Meaning & use
searching
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Examining something closely and carefully, as if trying to find a hidden truth.
Grammar: Goes before the noun: a searching question, not The question was searching.
Patterns
- a searching question
- a searching look
The interviewer asked several searching questions about the budget.
She gave him a long, searching look.
The report offers a searching analysis of the failure.
adjectivebefore a noun
Looking around as if hoping to find someone or something.
Grammar: Describes a gaze, glance or expression.
Patterns
- a searching glance
His searching eyes scanned the crowd.
With a searching glance, she checked the room for her keys.
Common combinations
- searching question
- The judge put a searching question to the witness.
- searching look
- He gave her a searching look but said nothing.
- searching examination
- The plan faced a searching examination in parliament.
- searching gaze
- Her searching gaze moved along the shelves.
- searching inquiry
- A searching inquiry followed the accident.
Synonyms and how they differ
- probing
- Probing stresses digging into sensitive details, while searching can describe a gaze as well as questions.
- penetrating
- Penetrating suggests sharp insight that cuts through, whereas searching suggests careful effort to uncover.
- thorough
- Thorough only means complete, with no sense of looking for something hidden.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: searching or researching?
searching vs researching
Researching means studying a subject to learn facts; searching as an adjective describes a probing look or question.
Practice
The lawyer's ___ questions made the witness nervous.
Choose one answer.
Searching is the adjective meaning probing. Searched is a past form, and searcher and search are nouns.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “searching”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.