# How do I search for a phrase?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-search-for-a-phrase/600899>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 26, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-search-for-a-phrase/600899 "2011-10-26T20:21:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-search-for-a-phrase/600899/1 "2011-10-26T20:21:17Z")

</div>

How do I search for a phrase using the forum search function? I want to find instances of “word1 word2.”

When I search for this using the quotes, it appears to just give back threads that have both words in it somewhere.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-search-for-a-phrase/600899/2 "2011-10-26T21:03:48Z")

</div>

Have you tried using Google to search, as documented [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11650034&postcount=13)?

Regards,  
Shodan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-search-for-a-phrase/600899/3 "2011-11-02T17:49:09Z")

</div>

Try this: [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings](http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings)