Link Centre Dictionary

seek

UK/ˈsiːk/ US/ˈsɪi̯k/ common
verb (5) noun (1)

verb

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”
Synonyms
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”
Synonyms
4.

go to or towards

  • “a liquid seeks its own level”
5.

inquire for

  • “seek directions from a local”

noun

1.

the movement of a read/write head to a specific data track on a disk

Origin

From Middle English seke, seken, from Old English sēċan, sēċean, sœ̄ċan, from Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”), from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂gyeti (“to seek out”), from *seh₂g- (“to follow, trace”). Cognates Cognate with Yola zeek (“to seek”), North Frisian schük, sjuk, säke (“to search, seek”), Saterland Frisian säike (“to search, seek”), West Frisian sykje (“to seek”), Alemannic German sueche, süeche (“to search, seek”), Bavarian suacha, suachn (“to search”), Central Franconian söke (“to search”), Cimbrian züuchan (“to seek”), Dutch zoeken (“to seek”), Low German söken (“to seek”), German suchen (“to seek”), Luxembourgish sichen (“to seek; to fetch”), Vilamovian zihia, zihja (“to seek”), Yiddish זוכן (zukhn, “to search, seek”), Danish søge (“to seek; to apply”), Faroese søkja (“to seek”), Icelandic sækja (“to seek”), Norwegian Bokmål søke (“to seek; to apply”), Norwegian Nynorsk søka, søke, søkja, søkje (“to seek; to apply”), Swedish söka (“to search”), Gothic 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan, “to seek”); also Cornish hedhes (“to reach; to achieve; to manage”), Welsh haeddu (“to deserve, merit”), Latin sāgiō (“to perceive quickly or keenly with the senses...

Phrases

  • hide and go seek
  • hide and seek
  • ideal-seeking behavior
  • north-seeking pole
  • rent seeking
  • seek a knot in a bulrush
  • seek and ye shall find
  • seek for

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.