search engine

[ surch-en-juhn ]
See synonyms for search engine on Thesaurus.com
nounDigital Technology.
  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.

Origin of search engine

1
First recorded in 1990–95
  • Also called re·triev·al en·gine [ri-tree-vuhl en-juhn] /rɪˈtri vəl ˌɛn dʒən/ .

Words Nearby search engine

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use search engine in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for search engine

search engine

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for search engine

search engine

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.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.