Query Meaning
/ˈkwɪə.ɹi/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA question, an inquiry (US), an enquiry (UK).
nounA question mark.
Sentence Examples
In the opening paragraphs I query the validity of so-called supply-side economic strategies.
The search query is inefficient.
Please type your query in the search box and press enter.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The student submitted a ____ to the professor regarding the homework deadline.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She sent an email to ____ the status of her application after not hearing back for two weeks.
Word Origin & History
An anglicisation of quere, an obsolete variant form of Latin quaere, second-person singular present active imperative of quaerō (“seek, look for; ask”); perhaps suffixed with -y (“abstract noun”). Cognate with French quérir, Italian chiedere, Portuguese querer, Romanian cere, and Spanish querer. Compare question.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations."
— 1910, Emerson Hough, “The Gateway, and Some Who Passed”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 29:
"His Glossary has ‘bouchen, to stop people's mouths,’; but this is followed by a query, to show that it was but a guess. I have shown, from the MSS. and other sources, that it should be bonched, i.e. bunched, bumped, knocked, smote."
— 1886, Skeat, Address of the President to the Philological Society, Great Britain:
"She had written in her diary: "I don't think I am in a concentration-camp??????", the queries growing larger and more numerous till they covered the entire page […]"
— 1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings:
"I refer you to your line above, where you use a query and a bang together."
— 2006, Pip, “Re: Royal Enfield motorbike - why would anyone buy one?”, in rec.motorcycles (Usenet):
"Although many agents accept email queries, check to see if they prefer mailed query letters."
— 2006, Michael Larsen, How to Get a Literary Agent, Sourcebooks Inc., page 46:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The student submitted a ____ to the professor regarding the homework deadline.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She sent an email to ____ the status of her application after not hearing back for two weeks.