noun
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a device, consisting of a light source and a reflecting surface behind it, that projects a powerful beam of light in a particular direction
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the beam of light produced by such a device
Etymology
Origin of searchlight
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At night, crews trained a searchlight across dark waters infested with so-called growlers—low-floating chunks of ice the size of trucks that can puncture ships.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 12, 2025
The methods used by exasperated zoo-keepers included trying to dazzle the bird with a fire brigade searchlight before nabbing him when he was distracted.
From BBC • Mar. 2, 2025
The task is a bit like discerning a field of fireflies around a central, massive searchlight.
From Science Daily • May 6, 2024
Using sound like a searchlight, they patrol the chilly depths.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 19, 2023
There’s a slight mist of light, coming through the cracks around the closed drapes, from the searchlight outside, where two men doubtless patrol, I’ve seen them, from above, from behind my curtains, dark shapes, cutouts.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
