Phrase guide

search engine

noun · verb · 3 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An application that searches for, and retrieves, data based on some criteria, especially one that searches the Internet for documents containing specified words.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

Alternative form of search-engine.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a computer program that retrieves documents or files or data from a database or from a computer network (especially from the internet)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: program, programme, computer program, computer programme

Narrower terms: Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

73 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: soekenjin — application that searches for data
  • Arabic: مُحَرِّك بَحْث (muḥarrik baḥṯ) — application that searches for data
  • Azerbaijani: axtarış mexanizmi — application that searches for data
  • Belarusian: по́шукавая сістэ́ма (póšukavaja sistéma) — application that searches for data
  • Belarusian: по́шукавая машы́на (póšukavaja mašýna) — application that searches for data
  • Belarusian: по́шукавік (póšukavik) — application that searches for data
  • Catalan: cercador — application that searches for data
  • Catalan: motor de cerca — application that searches for data
  • Chinese Mandarin: 搜索引擎 (sōusuǒ yǐnqíng) — application that searches for data
  • Chinese Mandarin: 搜索機 /搜索机 (sōusuǒjī) — application that searches for data
  • Chinese Mandarin: 搜尋引擎 /搜寻引擎 (sōuxún yǐnqíng) — application that searches for data
  • Cornish: towlen hwithra — application that searches for data
  • Czech: vyhledávač — application that searches for data
  • Danish: søgemaskine — application that searches for data
  • Dutch: zoekmotor — application that searches for data
  • Dutch: zoekmachine — application that searches for data
  • Esperanto: serĉilo — application that searches for data
  • Estonian: otsimootor — application that searches for data
  • Estonian: otsingumootor — application that searches for data
  • Finnish: hakukone — application that searches for data
  • French: moteur de recherche — application that searches for data
  • Galician: buscador — application that searches for data
  • Galician: motor de busca — application that searches for data
  • Georgian: საძიებო სისტემა (saʒiebo sisṭema) — application that searches for data
  • Georgian: ძებნის მექანიზმი (ʒebnis mekanizmi) — application that searches for data
  • German: Suchmaschine — application that searches for data
  • Greek: μηχανή αναζήτησης (michaní anazítisis) — application that searches for data
  • Hebrew: מנוע חיפוש (m'nóa-khipús) — application that searches for data
  • Hungarian: keresőmotor — application that searches for data
  • Hungarian: kereső — application that searches for data
  • Indonesian: mesin pencari — application that searches for data
  • Indonesian: mesin penelusur — application that searches for data
  • Irish: inneall cuardaigh — application that searches for data
  • Italian: motore di ricerca — application that searches for data
  • Japanese: サーチエンジン (sāchi enjin) — application that searches for data
  • Japanese: 検索エンジン (kensaku enjin) — application that searches for data
  • Javanese: mesin goleki — application that searches for data
  • Kazakh: іздеу жүйесі (ızdeu jüiesı) — application that searches for data
  • Korean: 검색 엔진 (geomsaek enjin) — application that searches for data
  • Luxembourgish: Sichmaschinn — application that searches for data
  • Macedonian: пребарувач (prebaruvač) — application that searches for data
  • Malay: enjin carian — application that searches for data
  • Norwegian Bokmål: søkemotor — application that searches for data
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: søkjemotor — application that searches for data
  • Occitan: cercador — application that searches for data
  • Polish: wyszukiwarka — application that searches for data
  • Polish: szukajka — application that searches for data
  • Portuguese: máquina de busca — application that searches for data
  • Portuguese: motor de busca — application that searches for data
  • Portuguese: motor de pesquisa — application that searches for data
  • Portuguese: buscador — application that searches for data
  • Romanian: motor de căutare — application that searches for data
  • Russian: поиско́вая систе́ма (poiskóvaja sistéma) — application that searches for data
  • Russian: поискови́к (poiskovík) — application that searches for data
  • Russian: поиско́вая маши́на (poiskóvaja mašína) — application that searches for data
  • Scottish Gaelic: lorgair — application that searches for data
  • Serbo-Croatian: претражѝва̄ч — application that searches for data
  • Serbo-Croatian: тражилица — application that searches for data
  • Serbo-Croatian: pretražìvāč — application that searches for data
  • Serbo-Croatian: tražilica — application that searches for data
  • Slovak: vyhľadávač — application that searches for data
  • Slovene: iskalnik — application that searches for data
  • Spanish: buscador — application that searches for data
  • Spanish: motor de búsqueda — application that searches for data
  • Sundanese: mesin teang — application that searches for data
  • Swedish: sökmotor — application that searches for data
  • Thai: โปรแกรมค้นหา — application that searches for data
  • Turkish: arama motoru — application that searches for data
  • Ukrainian: пошуко́ва систе́ма (pošukóva systéma) — application that searches for data
  • Ukrainian: пошуко́ва маши́на (pošukóva mašýna) — application that searches for data
  • Ukrainian: пошуко́вий руші́й (pošukóvyj rušíj) — application that searches for data
  • Ukrainian: пошукови́к (pošukovýk) — application that searches for data
  • Welsh: peiriant chwilio — application that searches for data