search party

noun

1. a group of persons conducting an organized search for someone or something lost or hidden.

search party

noun

1. a group of people taking part in an organized search, as for a lost, missing, or wanted person

Word History and Origins

Origin of search party¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

Ronnie, meanwhile, forms a small search party with two others.

From Vox

Dive teams and search parties were called, but they failed to find his body.

From Ozy

In the dense forest, he’d eluded the official search parties—including that helicopter that had narrowly missed him—that had been dispatched as soon as he and Royle failed to return the evening of the crash.

From Time

Some had even been part of the search party when Ahmad went missing.

From The Daily Beast

He therefore organized a search party of all the male servants on the estate, besides a couple of volunteers, making in all nine.

From Project Gutenberg

Excepting herself and Marian, there was nobody in the house but the cook, whose husband had also joined the search party.

From Project Gutenberg

I agree with Jessie that the townspeople should send out a search party, and I for one refuse to give up the hike.

From Project Gutenberg

I had not told anyone that I proposed to come to the Blue John mine, and it was unlikely that a search party would come after me.

From Project Gutenberg

As in duty bound they told him; and the search party turned in the direction of the log shanty.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• detachment