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

Only about half of all searches led to a click outside the search engine, Elliott said.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026

And historically, businesses also counted on getting free traffic to their sites from search engine optimization as users browsed the web.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2026

Google's omnipresent search engine now defaults to AI summaries of a person's query, and that hit the number of advertisements it was able to sell during the quarter.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

Often dubbed "Russia's Google", the firm runs the country's most popular search engine, as well as a food-ordering and taxi application used by tens of millions of people across the Russian-speaking world.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

Angie took one last look at the search results, then reluctantly closed down the search engine.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---