trolling

verb

present participle of troll
as in searching
to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something the owner of the bed-and-breakfast often trolls antique stores for furniture and knickknacks

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of trolling Johnson’s life outside of work often consists of reading books with her bookclub TeaTime (which is also the name of her production company), watching movies, and trolling her friends. — Chelsea Daniel, Vogue, 18 Sep. 2026 After a tense year of sniping and trolling each other, the family members agreed to bury the butcher knife, and the Original Roy Hutchins empire added an Arlington location near AT&T Stadium. — Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Sep. 2026 Indy, the duck-trolling dog star of Good Boy, received the Best Good Boy in a Horror Movie award. — Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 6 Aug. 2026 The seven of us who were aboard for a fishing trip started to get our deep-trolling gear ready. — James D. Oxley, Outdoor Life, 5 Aug. 2026 Charter boats trolling big bucktails or even umbrella rigs have targeted large, post-spawn fish for decades. — Ken Perrotte, USA Today, 4 Aug. 2026 Not just for his good looks, strong vocals, and charismatic performances, but also for his pretty funny content, especially when trolling the fans. — Laura Sirikul, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026 Gavin Newsom’s workplace issue The outgoing governor of California and anticipated 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom once made headlines for something other than trolling the president of the United States on social media. — Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 June 2026 Nine days after the Negra Francisca sank, another Ecuadorean fishing boat was trolling the fertile fishing grounds off the Galapagos. — Foreign Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trolling
  1. searching
  2. scanning
Verb
  • Police are searching for a man in connection with the shooting.
    — Matt Lavietes, NBC news, 17 Oct. 2026
  • The Coast Guard and Navy are searching the waters using multiple aircraft and boats, along with assistance from the Mexican navy.
    — Mikella Schuettler, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of searching
Verb
  • Aiming to protect what’s left of its buildings and monuments is a converted Volkswagen Crafter—the ARK III, a mobile 3D-scanning lab that creates digital twins of sacred and historical structures for future restoration.
    — Chris Stokel-Walker, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The sonar pinged about once a second, scanning the water 500 feet in every direction for signs of life, while another machine scanned the water immediately below the boat.
    — Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of scanning

Browse Nearby Words

trollers
trolling
trollop
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Trolling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trolling. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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