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

Relevance

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 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 But there’s something more than trolling at work, something elemental in the response to Scranton. — Literary Hub, 14 May 2026 Further, Musk is accused of using the litigation as part of a harassment campaign trolling Altman. — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trolling
  1. searching
  2. scanning
Verb
  • While searching for a message to share with his team this week, Frost found inspiration from the handful of games that were played this weekend as part of Week 0.
    — Matt Murschel, The Orlando Sentinel, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The farm alleges an officer in Polk County shot the donkey while searching for a missing person without permission or warning, according to the Facebook post.
    — Michelle Del Rey, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of searching
Verb
  • Clinical Trial Recruitment AI can accelerate clinical trial participant matching by scanning records against eligibility criteria, shortening recruitment dramatically.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026
  • As the children played and the adults talked, Rose kept noticing her husband looking toward the water, scanning the horizon.
    — Daryl Austin, USA Today, 26 Aug. 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 1 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Why does English have so many silent letters?

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All