To search means to look carefully and thoroughly for something. When you search for your missing sock, you check under the bed, look in the laundry basket, and maybe even dig through your closet. When a scientist searches for a cure for a disease, she examines thousands of possibilities through careful experiments.

A search can be quick or take years. You might search your backpack for a pencil in seconds, but archaeologists search for ancient ruins over entire lifetimes. The key is that searching involves more effort and intention than casual looking. You're actively trying to find something specific, whether it's your lost homework, the answer to a math problem, or proof that life exists on other planets.

The word also describes what you do online when you type something into Google or another search engine. These tools search through billions of web pages in fractions of a second to find what you need.

Search can be a noun too: “The search for the missing keys lasted all morning.” People conduct searches, join search parties to find lost hikers, or even go on a search and rescue mission. When something is hard to find, you might say it requires a thorough search.