Phrase guide

look for

verb · 4 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

verb

Meaning 1

To seek.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • He spent his life looking for the truth.
  • In July, when classes are over, most college-goers go looking for jobs.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: search for

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To expect.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: look after

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The police are searching for clues
  • They are searching for the missing man in the entire county

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: search, seek

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: dredge, drag, finger, grope, fumble, divine, browse, surf, leave no stone unturned, hunt, gather, want, scour, seek out, quest for, go after, quest after, pursue, fish, angle, grub, feel, shop

4

verb

Meaning 4

be excited or anxious about

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: anticipate, look to

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: expect, look, await, wait

Narrower terms: apprehend, quail at

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

200 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: soek — search; seek
  • Albanian: kërkoj — search; seek
  • Southern Altai: истеер (isteer) — search; seek
  • Arabic: بَحَثَ (baḥaṯa) — search; seek
  • Arabic: فَتَّشَ (fattaša) — search; seek
  • Arabic: دور (dawwar) — search; seek
  • Arabic: دور (dawwar) — search; seek
  • Armenian: փնտրել (pʻntrel) — search; seek
  • Armenian: որոնել (oronel) — search; seek
  • Armenian: ման գալ — search; seek
  • Asturian: buscar — search; seek
  • Asturian: guetar — search; seek
  • Azerbaijani: axtarmaq — search; seek
  • Azerbaijani: aramaq — search; seek
  • Bashkir: эҙләү (eźləw) — search; seek
  • Basque: bilatu — search; seek
  • Basque: xerkatu — search; seek
  • Belarusian: шука́ць (šukácʹ) — search; seek
  • Bengali: খোঁজা (khō̃ja) — search; seek
  • Bulgarian: тъ́рся (tǎ́rsja) — search; seek
  • Burmese: ရှာ (hra) — search; seek
  • Catalan: cercar — search; seek
  • Catalan: buscar — search; seek
  • Chechen: леха (lexa) — search; seek
  • Cherokee: ᎤᏲᎭ (uyoha) — search; seek
  • Chinese Cantonese: 搵 /揾 (wan2) — search; seek
  • Chinese: зо (zo) — search; seek
  • Chinese: щинзо (xinzo) — search; seek
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 討 /讨 (tō̤) — search; seek
  • Hakka Chinese: 尋 /寻 (chhìm) — search; seek
  • Chinese: 揣 (zh-min-nan) — search; seek
  • Chinese Mandarin: 找 (zhǎo) — search; seek
  • Chinese Mandarin: 找尋 /找寻 (zhǎoxún) — search; seek
  • Chinese Mandarin: 尋找 /寻找 (xúnzhǎo) — search; seek
  • Chinese Mandarin: 搜索 (sōusuǒ) — search; seek
  • Wu Chinese: 尋 /寻 — search; seek
  • Ngazidja Comorian: uzungushia — search; seek
  • Czech: hledat — search; seek
  • Danish: søge — search; seek
  • Danish: lede — search; seek
  • Dutch: zoeken — search; seek
  • Esperanto: serĉi — search; seek
  • Estonian: otsima — search; seek
  • Ewe: di — search; seek
  • Faroese: leita — search; seek
  • Finnish: etsiä — search; seek
  • Finnish: hakea — search; seek
  • French: chercher — search; seek
  • French: rechercher — search; seek
  • Old French: encerchier — search; seek
  • Old French: cerchier — search; seek
  • Old French: querre — search; seek
  • Friulian: cirî — search; seek
  • Galician: buscar — search; seek
  • Galician: procurar — search; seek
  • Georgian: ძებნა (ʒebna) — search; seek
  • German: suchen — search; seek
  • Gothic: 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan) — search; seek
  • Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍈𐌰𐌽 (bisaiƕan) — search; seek
  • Greek: ψάχνω (psáchno) — search; seek
  • Ancient Greek: ζητέω (zētéō) — search; seek
  • Hebrew: חיפש \ חִפֵּשׂ (khipés) — search; seek
  • Hindi: ढूँढ़ना (ḍhū̃ṛhnā) — search; seek
  • Hindi: ढूँढना (ḍhūṇḍhnā) — search; seek
  • Hindi: खोजना (khojnā) — search; seek
  • Hungarian: keres — search; seek
  • Hungarian: kutat — search; seek
  • Icelandic: leita — search; seek
  • Ido: serchar — search; seek
  • Indonesian: mencari — search; seek
  • Ingrian: etsiä — search; seek
  • Irish: cuardaigh — search; seek
  • Italian: cercare — search; seek
  • Italian: ricercare — search; seek
  • Japanese: 探す (sagasu) — search; seek
  • Japanese: 求める (motomeru) — search; seek
  • Kambera: himbu — search; seek
  • Kannada: ಹುಡುಕು (huḍuku) — search; seek
  • Kazakh: іздеу (ızdeu) — search; seek
  • Kazakh: жоқтау (joqtau) — search; seek
  • Khmer: រកមើល (rɔɔk məəl) — search; seek
  • Khmer: រក (rɔɔk) — search; seek
  • Khmer: ស្វែងរក (svaeng rɔɔk) — search; seek
  • Khmer: ស្វែង (svaeng) — search; seek
  • Korean: 찾다 (chatda) — search; seek
  • Korean: 구하다 (guhada) — search; seek
  • Kumyk: ахтармакъ (axtarmaq) — search; seek
  • Kumyk: излемек (izlemek) — search; seek
  • Central Kurdish: گەراندن (gerandin) — search; seek
  • Central Kurdish: تەمەشاکردن (temeşakirdin) — search; seek
  • Kyrgyz: издөө (izdöö) — search; seek
  • Ladino: bushkar — search; seek
  • Lao: ຫາ (hā) — search; seek
  • Lao: ຊອກ (sǭk) — search; seek
  • Lao: ຊອກຫາ (sǭk hā) — search; seek
  • Latin: quaerō — search; seek
  • Latin: scrūtō — search; seek
  • Latvian: meklēt — search; seek
  • Lithuanian: ieškoti — search; seek
  • Lombard: cercà — search; seek
  • : ᦠᦱ (ḣaa) — search; seek
  • Macedonian: бара (bara) — search; seek
  • Macedonian: трага (traga) — search; seek
  • Malay: mencari — search; seek
  • Malayalam: തിരയുക (tirayuka) — search; seek
  • Maltese: fittex — search; seek
  • Māori: kaiarohi — search; seek
  • Māori: ngaropoko — search; seek
  • Māori: kimi — search; seek
  • Māori: rapu — search; seek
  • Marathi: शोधणे (śodhṇe) — search; seek
  • Mongolian: хайх (xajx) — search; seek
  • Navajo: hainitá — search; seek
  • Nepali: खोज्नु (khojnu) — search; seek
  • Norman: chèrchi — search; seek
  • Norwegian: være ute etter — search; seek
  • Norwegian Bokmål: lete — search; seek
  • Norwegian Bokmål: leite — search; seek
  • Norwegian Bokmål: se etter — search; seek
  • Norwegian Bokmål: søke — search; seek
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: leite — search; seek
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sjå etter — search; seek
  • Occitan: cercar — search; seek
  • Old Church Slavonic: искати (iskati) — search; seek
  • Old English: sēċan — search; seek
  • Old Norse: leita — search; seek
  • Pela: xa55 — search; seek
  • Persian: جستجو کردن (jostoju kardan) — search; seek
  • Persian: جستن (jostan) — search; seek
  • Piedmontese: sërché — search; seek
  • Polish: szukać — search; seek
  • Polish: wypatrywać — search; seek
  • Polish: patrzeć za — search; seek
  • Portuguese: procurar — search; seek
  • Portuguese: buscar — search; seek
  • Portuguese: pesquisar — search; seek
  • Quechua: maskhay — search; seek
  • Quechua: mask'ay — search; seek
  • Romanian: căuta — search; seek
  • Romansh: tschertgar — search; seek
  • Romansh: tschercar — search; seek
  • Romansh: tscharcar — search; seek
  • Romansh: tschartgear — search; seek
  • Romansh: tschartger — search; seek
  • Romansh: tschertgan — search; seek
  • Romansh: tschercher — search; seek
  • Romansh: tscherchar — search; seek
  • Romansh: encurir — search; seek
  • Romansh: ancurir — search; seek
  • Romansh: antschertgear — search; seek
  • Romansh: duncrir — search; seek
  • Romansh: guardar — search; seek
  • Russian: иска́ть (iskátʹ) — search; seek
  • Russian: поиска́ть (poiskátʹ) — search; seek
  • Scottish Gaelic: lorg — search; seek
  • Scottish Gaelic: sir — search; seek
  • Scottish Gaelic: iarr — search; seek
  • Serbo-Croatian: тра́жити — search; seek
  • Serbo-Croatian: trážiti — search; seek
  • Shor: тилерге (tilerge) — search; seek
  • Slovak: hľadať — search; seek
  • Slovene: iskati — search; seek
  • Lower Sorbian: pytaś — search; seek
  • Spanish: buscar — search; seek
  • Spanish: lambisquear — search; seek
  • Spanish: husmear — search; seek
  • Old Spanish: buscar — search; seek
  • Swahili: kutafuta — search; seek
  • Swedish: leta efter — search; seek
  • Swedish: söka — search; seek
  • Tabaru: tike — search; seek
  • Tajik: ҷустуҷӯ кардан (justujü kardan) — search; seek
  • Tamil: தேடு (tēṭu) — search; seek
  • Tamil: தேடி பார் (tēṭi pār) — search; seek
  • Tatar: эзләргә (ezlärgä) — search; seek
  • Ternate: tike — search; seek
  • Thai: มองหา (mɔɔng-hǎa) — search; seek
  • Thai: หา (hǎa) — search; seek
  • Tibetan: བཙལ (btsal) — search; seek
  • Turkish: aramak — search; seek
  • Turkmen: agtarmak — search; seek
  • Ukrainian: шука́ти (šukáty) — search; seek
  • Ukrainian: гляді́ти (hljadíty) — search; seek
  • Ukrainian: пошу́кувати (pošúkuvaty) — search; seek
  • Ukrainian: пошука́ти (pošukáty) — search; seek
  • Urdu: ڈھونڈھنا (ḍhū̃ḍhnā) — search; seek
  • Uyghur: ئىزدىمەك (izdimek) — search; seek
  • Uyghur: ئاختۇرماق (axturmaq) — search; seek
  • Uyghur: قىدىرماق (qidirmaq) — search; seek
  • Uzbek: izlamoq — search; seek
  • Uzbek: axtarmoq — search; seek
  • Uzbek: qidirmoq — search; seek
  • Vietnamese: tìm — search; seek
  • Vietnamese: tìm kiếm — search; seek
  • Welsh: chwilio am — search; seek
  • Yiddish: זוכן (zukhn) — search; seek
  • Zazaki: vinayen — search; seek
  • Zhuang: ra — search; seek
  • Zhuang: daep — search; seek
  • Zhuang: cimh — search; seek