as in searching
to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something
he raked repeatedly through his luggage, hoping that in one of the bags he would find his lost passport before his flight's departure
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of raking
Burrow, who spoke with media after the Bengals lost 18-20 to the Cleveland Browns, seemed bothered by his 'do from the start, sitting down at the mic and instantly raking his lengthy bangs back with his hands.
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Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 5 Jan. 2026
Cover the seed with a very thin layer of soil, approximately 1/8 inch thick, by gently raking the area.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 31 Dec. 2025
Work your way up to the scalp, raking the product to ensure that your curls are evenly coated.
—Grace McCarty, Glamour, 19 Dec. 2025
Also, Pérez has been raking at the Triple-A level for quite some time.
—Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2025
Seasonal chores like raking leaves or shoveling snow, decorating your house or decluttering your closets can also count as functional exercise without hitting the gym.
—Monica Haider, CNN Money, 20 Nov. 2025
This will improve your ability to perform daily tasks like reaching the back seat of your car to grab an object, shoveling snow, or raking leaves.
—Jenny McCoy, Outside, 29 Oct. 2025
What if your fall clean-up could involve less raking and more pumpkin spice lattes?
—Erica Browne Grivas, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Oct. 2025
For larger areas or quicker cleanup, a leaf blower can be a helpful alternative to raking.
—Diana Leyva, Nashville Tennessean, 21 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for raking
Verb
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Rescuers retrieved eight people alive and were searching for the missing still trapped after a huge mound of garbage and debris collapsed on them in the village of Binaliw in Cebu city, police said.—
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Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Wednesday that it had been notified that teams had recommenced searching for Ran Gvili.—
Verb
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Catherine Corless, a local historian in Tuam, spent years combing through death certificates and church records from the former home, eventually documenting 796 children who died there.—
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By Wednesday morning, law enforcement officers and workers in protective clothing were combing the area in search of the missing animals.—
Verb
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Wegmans, a popular supermarket chain, is now scanning the faces of customers and storing data so its security system can recognize them.—
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In 2017, the Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine went to a team of English and French researchers who used advanced brain-scanning technology to measure the extent to which some people are disgusted by cheese.—
Verb
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The series chronicles three New Yorkers who come together over their love of true crime podcasts and end up finding themselves at the center of more than a few true crimes.—
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At least in the interim, Duke deserves credit for finding ways to win despite some of its defensive deficiencies.—
Cite this Entry
“Raking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/raking. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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