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search party

search party

36 2.6
A group of people who look for someone who is missing
  • noun
  • /sɜːrtʃ ˈpɑːrti/
translation icon : equipo de búsqueda
  • After several hours, a search party was organized to look for the missing hiker.
  • send a search party
  • organize a search party
  • form a search party

And of course the other search party members were there now, weirdly.

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Examples

  • And I've formed a search party ready to go within the hour.

  • And a search party was quickly formed, and she joined it.

  • I went out with one of the search parties.

  • We need to get a search party up here.

  • We were gonna send out a search party for you two.

  • We were gonna send out a search party.

  • On the third day, a search party was sent out to look for the girl.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Three days later the sheriff formed a search party.

  • We need to organize and send out a search party.

  • Shaka, our German Shepherd, was part of the search party that went to look for Pauline.

    Fiction book (1994)

Synonyms

rescue party
vssearch party
7 2.7

A group of people who are sent to save others in danger

is focused on finding missing people rather than immediately removing them
search and rescue mission
vssearch party
6 3.4

A planned effort to find and help people who are lost or in danger after an emergency

is focused on finding missing people rather than providing help

How Large

search party
36 2.6
searcher
20 2.3

Surface Forms

search party singular

Morphology

search + party

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'search' (an effort to locate) with 'party' (a group assembled for a task), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer 'a group organized to look for someone'. This noun-noun composition follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern of transparent compounding and therefore is readily comprehensible.

Etymology

Search party comes from the simple image of people forming a party to search, who walk in lines through fields or woods to find someone lost. That's why it means 'a group organized to look for someone who is missing'.