Phrase guide

information retrieval

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The science of searching for information in documents, searching for documents themselves, searching for metadata which describe documents, or searching within databases, whether relational stand-alone databases or hypertextually-networked databases such as the World Wide Web.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: computing, engineering, human-sciences, information-science, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 信息檢索 /信息检索 (xìnxī jiǎnsuǒ) — science of searching
  • Chinese Mandarin: 資訊檢索 /资讯检索 (zīxùn jiǎnsuǒ) — science of searching
  • Finnish: tiedonhaku — science of searching
  • French: recherche d'information — science of searching
  • Japanese: 情報検索 (jōhō-kensaku) — science of searching
  • Korean: 정보 검색 (jeongbo geomsaek) — science of searching
  • Russian: информацио́нный по́иск (informaciónnyj póisk) — science of searching
  • Swedish: informationsåtervinning — science of searching