search engine

American  

[surch en-juhn] / ˈsɜrtʃ ˌɛn dʒən /

noun

Digital Technology.

search engines plural

1. a computer program that searches documents, especially on the World Wide Web, for a specified word or words and provides a list of documents in which they are found.

---

search engine British  

noun

1. computing a service provided on the internet enabling users to search for items of interest

---

search engine Cultural  

1. Web sites or software that search the Internet for documents that contain a key word, phrase, or subject that is specified by the user to the search engine. Each engine has its own method of searching for information.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• search engines
  plural

Etymology

Origin of search engine

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

search engine

Links to the chats, some of which included personal and work information, would show up if a user of a search engine like Google used a site-specific search term.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

"The best products should succeed because they're better, not because they're owned by the company running the search engine," she said.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

"The best products should succeed because they're better, not because they're owned by the company running the search engine," EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

The decision is the culmination of a yearslong dispute over how Google uses its position in the digital economy to direct users to its own search engine on devices such as smartphones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

It’s the part of the online world you don’t see, that no search engine will ever show you.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu