as in to search
to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something
the police scoured the city for the Typhoid Mary of this latest epidemic
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Recent Examples of scour
Start scouring the virtual shelves below—apologies in advance to your credit card.
—
Jake Henry Smith, Glamour, 12 July 2025
Share Search crews scour central Texas for signs of life after devastating floods
+2
Suzanne Gamboa
Daniel Arkin
Daniella Silva
Suzanne Gamboa, Daniel Arkin and Daniella Silva
Reporting from INGRAM, Texas
A cabin at Camp Mystic, Texas, where at least 20 girls went missing after flash flooding.
—Erik Ortiz, NBC news, 9 July 2025
But between sessions, many of these chieftains are scouring the posh resort, looking for companies to partner with, sell to or buy.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 9 July 2025
In a fortuitous twist of fate, former Utah Valley University coach Eddie Smith was in attendance for the 3A state baseball playoff tournament in Pasco, Wash., scouring for talent.
—Christopher Kamrani, New York Times, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for scour
Jake Henry Smith, Glamour, 12 July 2025
Share Search crews scour central Texas for signs of life after devastating floods
+2
Suzanne Gamboa
Daniel Arkin
Daniella Silva
Suzanne Gamboa, Daniel Arkin and Daniella Silva
Reporting from INGRAM, Texas
A cabin at Camp Mystic, Texas, where at least 20 girls went missing after flash flooding.
—Erik Ortiz, NBC news, 9 July 2025
But between sessions, many of these chieftains are scouring the posh resort, looking for companies to partner with, sell to or buy.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 9 July 2025
In a fortuitous twist of fate, former Utah Valley University coach Eddie Smith was in attendance for the 3A state baseball playoff tournament in Pasco, Wash., scouring for talent.
—Christopher Kamrani, New York Times, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for scour
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scour
Verb
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But cosmologists have actually been searching for holes in the standard model—holes that might lead to a more complete understanding of spacetime, because the standard model has limitations.—
Sarah Scoles,
JSTOR Daily,
31 July 2025
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Police are searching for a suspect believed to have killed four family members in rural Tennessee and then abandoned a 7-month-old baby girl in a front yard 25 miles away this week.—
Nicole Acosta,
People.com,
31 July 2025
Verb
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Search crews found Phillips’ Jeep crushed into the mud, but have not recovered the fire chief’s body after more than two weeks of searching.—
Bayliss Wagner,
Austin American Statesman,
25 July 2025
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As Cincinnati city leaders consider new ways to enforce the curfew for youth who stay out too late, an Enquirer review of data found police across Hamilton County have been steadily filing fewer curfew violations over the past 25 years.—
David Ferrara,
The Enquirer,
25 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scour.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scour. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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