Are the verb phrases "to search for something" and "to look for something" synonyms?
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Have you tried doing a google search of "search vs look"?– Kevin WorkmanCommented Jan 7, 2014 at 14:08
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The verb phrase "look for" has more than one possible meaning. For example, in the poem The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, "look for me by moonlight" means "watch for me by moonlight", that is, "expect me to come and visit you tonight" rather than "search for me by moonlight".– Peter ShorCommented Jan 8, 2014 at 15:44
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4 Answers
These are two verb phrases my (Swiss-French) students keep mixing up, because the French for "to look for something" is "chercher quelque chose", which sounds very much like "to search for something".
Even though the reason why you search a place or a person is because you are looking for something which you hope to find somewhere in this place or on that person, you could not say "*I looked (at) the Internet for that piece of information" whereas you can say "I searched the Internet for that piece of information".
"Search" is di-transitive (has a direct object, the Internet, and an indirect object, for a piece of information), whereas "look", here, is mono-transitive (only has one – indirect, here – object, for a piece of information).
The search is the medium, the means, and the thing looked for is the end.
answered Jan 7, 2014 at 15:15
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1I don't go with for a piece of string being an indirect object of look. Rather, I'd class look for as a transitive multi-word verb synonymous with seek. The transitive MWVs look for and search for are near-synonyms (search indicating a rather keener approach). With search the internet for a supplier, I think I have to plead a hybrid case: search and search for both seem in evidence. Analysing 'for a supplier' as a PP points to the alternative reading 'on behalf of a supplier'. Commented Jan 7, 2014 at 16:46
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@Edwin Ashworth: doesn't "search" have a direct object which is understood (I searched a place), which is not the case of "look"? In "I looked everywhere" or "I looked in different places", what follows the verb is some kind of adverbial, not an object, isn't it? Commented Jan 7, 2014 at 21:08
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@EdwinAshworth: you are right, the more I think about "look/search for something" the more I feel that it is some kind of adverbial of purpose (in order to find something) rather than an object… Commented Jan 7, 2014 at 21:29
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There is a lot of debate over the exact meaning that should be attached to 'direct object'. Partly, this is a matter merely of terminology, but also, there are deeper issues: 'I took the dog a bone' and 'I took the dog a walk' are identical structures on the surface, but there are few who would consider 'a walk' here to be a true object. Some call it a 'syntactic object' because of the identical distribution. It's easy to see it's a reduced prepositional phrase. Aarts makes sense to me in this area. Commented Jan 7, 2014 at 22:12
Look for is the standard verb (in this case, phrasal verb), meaning to try to find.
Search means:
1) to look for extensively. Ex. I searched the whole house high and low, but couldn't find my passport. 2) to try to find on the internet (search the internet is a collocation, meaning a common word combination).
There is a third word, seek, which is used in certain expressions and tends to be a bit more formal. Ex. seek justice, shelter. In addition, sometimes you see it on car radios, where it is used to mean find the station you want.
Because you are asking whether the whole phrases are synonyms rather than just the words look and search, then I would say, yes, they are synonymous.
When we call words synonyms, or say that two things are synonymous, there is usually at least some slight difference in meaning, at least in connotation. This is why we may sometimes make distinctions like "They are exact synonyms." or "They are nearly synonymous". I would say that these two phrases are basically synonymous. When search and look are used in this precise context, they carry very similar meanings. But search carries the connotation of a much deeper or more exhaustive process, whereas look could be much more casual. This connotative distinction follows naturally from the distinction between the independent meanings of looking (active seeing) and searching (actively and methodically looking with intent to find something) outside the context of this phrase.
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I can find a dictionary definition claiming that phrases may be synonyms. Throwing in a bogus 'technically' does not add any authority to a counter-claim. I can also find statements claiming that there are no two words or phrases that are interchangeable in every context in which they normally appear. Commented Jan 7, 2014 at 16:27
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Yes. I see that synonym has come to include phrases. My limited definition was archaic, so I've edited my answer. I'm not sure I see how your point about interchangeable words is in conflict with what I've said. Also, uh... lighten up! Commented Jan 7, 2014 at 17:31
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I'm saying that synonyms ('exact synonyms' thus is a contradiction in terms) overlap in meaning such that some (but never all) usages are interchangeable. 'Near synonyms' are expressions such that the interchanging of some (not all) senses makes only a slight difference. Again, some definitions would allow this looser definition for all synonyms. The snag is that even the same word has different connotations for all people ('All words are infinitely polysemous': Phil White). Also: I promise to visit more Coyote-Buttes-orientated websites in the near future. ;-) Commented Jan 7, 2014 at 22:24
The existence of these two words are yet another example of English being fundamentally composed of several languages. (Compare 'labyrinthe and maze', on this site a few days ago). This is one of the reasons that English is so rich in vocabulary.
'Search' clearly originates from the Norman French as has been noted. 'Look' is of West Germanic origin and was brought to our shores, probably by the Saxons.
As with pig and pork, sheep and mutton, these pairs of words take meanings in English which are usually near-synonyms. Often, as in the case of pig/pork, the words reflect the underlying status of the users. The Saxons were the underlings who tilled the soil and served their Norman masters. Thus the farmyard word is theirs -pig. By the time the pig-meat had reached the Norman Seigneur's table it had become 'pork'.
