as in to search
to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something
combed the library for the missing book
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of comb
Authorities were still combing the scene and recovering the bodies before releasing an official number and identifying the deceased, though there were not believed to be any survivors aboard the flight.
—
Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 May 2025
As jail staff searched the facility, investigators combed through video footage.
—Julianna Bragg, CNN Money, 16 May 2025
Hutchison then combed through obituaries and databases, according to the statement, and learned that all four brothers were still alive but did not have DNA profiles in CODIS.
—Daniella Segura, Sacbee.com, 13 May 2025
Investigators continue to comb through previous jail phone recordings and believe that other incarcerated inmates or employees at the jail could face additional charges for their role assisting in theMay 16 escape and initial cover-up in the hours following the jailbreak, according to the source.
—Ryan Young, CNN Money, 24 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for comb
Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 May 2025
As jail staff searched the facility, investigators combed through video footage.
—Julianna Bragg, CNN Money, 16 May 2025
Hutchison then combed through obituaries and databases, according to the statement, and learned that all four brothers were still alive but did not have DNA profiles in CODIS.
—Daniella Segura, Sacbee.com, 13 May 2025
Investigators continue to comb through previous jail phone recordings and believe that other incarcerated inmates or employees at the jail could face additional charges for their role assisting in theMay 16 escape and initial cover-up in the hours following the jailbreak, according to the source.
—Ryan Young, CNN Money, 24 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for comb
Recent Examples of Synonyms for comb
Verb
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It had been visited by an investigator, searching for locations where someone may have spotted Chandler around the time of the murders.—
Ruth Chenetz,
CBS News,
31 May 2025
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But Johnson’s show, which unfolds chronologically, feels like one winding, thorny, searching, implicitly memoiristic half-century-long process of thought—a record of growing up.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
30 May 2025
Verb
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Those waterfowl sure can rake … putting 13 runs on upstart Liberty to get back to the World Series stage.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
29 May 2025
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Last year the Village Board voted to require Oak Park homeowners residents to bag their leaves instead of just raking their leaves into the street as they had been accustomed to doing.—
Bob Skolnik,
Chicago Tribune,
15 May 2025
Verb
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If finding indoor shelter is not an option: Stay away from open fields, hill summits, or ridge tops.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
7 June 2025
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Fears that a serial killer is at large were reignited by the recent discovery of a body in a Texas lake, where 19 corpses have been found over the past three years.—
Sophie Clark,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Comb.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/comb. Accessed 11 Jun. 2025.
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