Showing results for web scraping. Search instead for web scrapers.

web scraping

American

[web skrey-ping] / ˈwɛb ˌskreɪ pɪŋ /

noun

Digital Technology.

the extraction and copying of data from a website into a structured format using a computer program: Our search engine uses web scraping to index sites.

Hackers pose a threat with techniques like web scraping.
Our search engine uses web scraping to index sites.

Other Word Forms

web scraper noun

Etymology

Origin of web scraping

First recorded in 2000–05

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.

Brundage joined Discord and Telegram channels devoted to web scraping and residential proxy services.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

Training data comes from X, formerly Twitter, with 600 million users generating real-time content that no competitor can replicate through web scraping.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 15, 2026

Using machine learning and web scraping tools to consume information—already par for the course for some funds operating in the daytime—could become even more important.

From Barron's • Oct. 23, 2025

The rise in this activity, known as web scraping, recently prompted British media publishers to join calls by creatives for the UK government to uphold protections around copyrighted content.

From BBC • Jun. 20, 2025

And in April, a federal appeals court ruled that automated data collection from websites, known as web scraping, did not violate the law.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 8, 2022

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023