# trawl

/tɹˈɔːl/ (UK) · CEFR C1 · Verb

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/trawl
Updated: 2026-10-15

## Definition

to pull a big fishing net through the sea to catch fish. You also use it when you search slowly and carefully through a lot of things, like files or the internet.

For teachers: to drag a large fishing net through water to catch fish. Extended to mean a slow, thorough search through a large body of material, records, or data.

## Examples

- Fishermen trawl these waters for cod every winter.
- The journalist trawls through years of emails to find evidence of the fraud.
- After the crash, investigators trawled the wreckage and flight logs for months, piecing together a sequence of minor faults that alone seemed harmless.

## Synonyms

Fish, search, scour, comb, sift

## Usage notes

- Takes a direct object for the area or material searched; search sense commonly pairs with 'through' or 'for'.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.