Adjacent Words

Seek definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SEEK, v.t. pret and pp. sought, pronounced sawt. [L. sequor, to follow; for to seek is to go after, and the primary sense is to advance, to press, to drive forward, as in the L. peto.]
1. To go in searh or quest of; to look for; to search for by going from place to place.
The man asked him, saying, what seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethen.
Genesis 37.
2. To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to endeavor to find or gain by any means.
The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. Psalms 104.
He found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Hebrews 12
Others tempting him, sought of him a sign. Luke 11.
3.Seek is followed sometimes by out or after. To seek out, properly implies to look for a specific thing among a number. But in general, the use of out and after with seek, is unnecessary and inelegant.
To seek God, his name, or his face, in Scripture, to ask for his favor, direction and assistance. Psalms 83.
God seeks men, when he fixes his love on them, and by his word and Spirit, and the righteousness of Christ, reclaims and recovers them from their miserable condition as sinners.
Ezek 34. Psalms 119. Luke 15.
To seek after the life, or soul, to attempt by arts or machinations; or to attempt to destroy or ruin. Psalms 35.
To seek peace, or judgement, to endeavor to promote it; or to practice it.
Psalms 34. Isaiah 1.
To seek an altar, temple, or habitation, to frequent it; to restore to it often.
2 Chronicles 1. Amos 5.
To seek out God's works, to endeavor to understand them. Psalms 111.
SEEK, v. i.
1. To make search or inquiry; to endeavor to make discovery.
Seek ye out of the book of the Lord. Isaiah 34.
2. To endeavor.
Ask not what pains, nor further seek to know
Their process, or the forms of law below. Dryden.
To seek after, to make pursuit; to attempt to find or take. [See No. 3 supra.]
To seek for, to endeavor to find. Knolles.
To seek to, to apply to; to resort to. 1 Kings 10.
To seek, at a loss; without knowledge, measures or experience.
Unpractic'd, unprepar'd and still to seek. Milton. [This phrase, I believe, is wholly obsolete.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the movement of a read/write head to a specific data track on a disk v
1: try to get or reach; "seek a position"; "seek an education"; "seek happiness"
2: try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the missing man in the entire county" [syn: search, seek, look for]
3: make an effort or attempt; "He tried to shake off his fears"; "The infant had essayed a few wobbly steps"; "The police attempted to stop the thief"; "He sought to improve himself"; "She always seeks to do good in the world" [syn: try, seek, attempt, essay, assay]
4: go to or towards; "a liquid seeks its own level"
5: inquire for; "seek directions from a local"

Merriam Webster's

verb (sought; seeking) Etymology: Middle English seken, from Old English s?can; akin to Old High German suohhen to seek, Latin sagus prophetic, Greek h?geisthai to lead Date: before 12th century transitive verb 1. to resort to ; go to 2. a. to go in search of ; look for b. to try to discover 3. to ask for ; request <seeks advice> 4. to try to acquire or gain ; aim at <seek fame> 5. to make an attempt ; try — used with to and an infinitive <governments…seek to keep the bulk of their people contented — D. M. Potter> intransitive verb 1. to make a search or inquiry 2. a. to be sought b. to be lacking <in critical judgment…they were sadly to seek — Times Literary Supplement> • seeker noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. (past and past part. sought) 1 a tr. make a search or inquiry for. b intr. (foll. by for, after) make a search or inquiry. 2 tr. a try or want to find or get. b ask for; request (sought help from him; seeks my aid). 3 tr. (foll. by to + infin.) endeavour or try. 4 tr. make for or resort to (a place or person, for advice, health, etc.) (sought his bed; sought a fortune-teller; sought the shore). 5 tr. archaic aim at, attempt. 6 intr. (foll. by to) archaic resort. Phrases and idioms: seek dead an order to a retriever to find killed game. seek out 1 search for and find. 2 single out for companionship, etc. sought-after much in demand; generally desired or courted. to seek (or much to seek or far to seek) deficient, lacking, or not yet found (the reason is not far to seek; an efficient leader is yet to seek). Derivatives: seeker n. (also in comb.). Etymology: OE secan f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Seek Seek, v. i. To make search or inquiry: to endeavor to make discovery. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read. --Isa. xxxiv. 16. To seek, needing to seek or search; hence, unpreparated. ``Unpracticed, unpreparated, and still to seek.'' --Milton. [Obs] To seek after, to make pursuit of; to attempt to find or take. To seek for, to endeavor to find. To seek to, to apply to; to resort to; to court. [Obs.] ``All the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom.'' --1. Kings x. 24. To seek upon, to make strict inquiry after; to follow up; to persecute. [Obs.] To seek Upon a man and do his soul unrest. --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Seek Seek, a. Sick. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Seek Seek, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sought; p. pr. & vb. n. Seeking.] [OE, seken, AS. s?can, s?cean; akin to OS. s?kian, LG. s["o]ken, D. zoeken, OHG. suohhan, G. suchen, Icel. s?kja, Sw. s["o]ka, Dan. s["o]ge, Goth. s?kjan, and E. sake. Cf. Beseech, Ransack, Sagacious, Sake, Soc.] 1. To go in search of; to look for; to search for; to try to find. The man saked him, saying, What seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren. --Gen. xxxvii. 15,16. 2. To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to bessech. Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign. --Luke xi. 16. 3. To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at; as, to seek wealth or fame; to seek one's life. 4. To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to. Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal. --Amos v. 5. Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains. --Pope.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(seeks, seeking, sought) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you seek something such as a job or a place to live, you try to find one. (FORMAL) They have had to seek work as labourers... Four people who sought refuge in the Italian embassy have left voluntarily... Candidates are urgently sought for the post of Conservative party chairman. VERB: V n, V n, be V-ed for n 2. When someone seeks something, they try to obtain it. (FORMAL) The prosecutors have warned they will seek the death penalty... Haemophiliacs are seeking compensation for being given contaminated blood. VERB: V n, V n 3. If you seek someone's help or advice, you contact them in order to ask for it. (FORMAL) Always seek professional legal advice before entering into any agreement... The couple have sought help from marriage guidance counsellors. VERB: V n, V n from n 4. If you seek to do something, you try to do it. (FORMAL) He also denied that he would seek to annex the country... VERB: V to-inf

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Search for, seek for, look for, look after, try to find. 2. Solicit, ask, inquire for, try to get, endeavor to gain. 3. Solicit, pursue, court, prosecute, follow. 4. Go to, resort to, have recourse to. 5. Aim at, attempt, pursue, strive after. 6. Search. II. v. n. 1. Search, make search, look. 2. Try, strive, endeavor, attempt.

Moby Thesaurus

address, aim, angle for, ask for, aspire, be after, be curious, be determined, beat about for, beg, bid for, burn with curiosity, canvass, cast about, chase, chivy, court, delve, delve for, demand, dig, dig around for, dig for, dig up, dog, endeavor, essay, ferret out, fish, fish for, follow, follow up, gape, gawk, give chase, go after, go gunning for, gun for, hollo after, hope, hound, hunt, hunt for, hunt up, inquire, interrogate, invite, labor, look, look for, look up, make after, mouse, nose, nose around for, nose out, peer, pop the question, prosecute, prowl after, pursue, query, quest, quest after, question, quiz, raise the hunt, request, resolve, root, rubber, rubberneck, run after, search, search for, search out, see to, seek for, seek out, smell, solicit, stare, still-hunt, strain, strive, struggle, study, sue, sue for, sweat, sweat blood, take out after, try, try to find, undertake, want to know, woo