99440
In particular, I'm thinking of the below words involving searching for
items/people, with my current understanding on the right

探す - The most general word

探求する - Searching for a physical or abstract item, but not a person. It may not
be missing in the first place.

捜索する - Seems like it is often (but not always) used with people. Also, seems
like whatever is being searched for has always gone missing

サーチする - "katakana contexts" (eg: marketing)

探し求める - no idea
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2023-04-22T15:21:26.500
99424
2023-04-24T02:12:06.250
38831
question
word-choice nuances
Comparing the words for "search"
* **探求** : It's typically used in the context of researching or learning, in the sense of "to explore". 探究心 refers to childlike desire to learn and understand things. It's object is almost always something abstract such as knowledge and happiness. 探究 is very similar to this.

  * **捜索** : It's used only in the context of searching missing people (行方不明者の捜索) and crime investigation (家宅捜索).

  * **サーチ** : It's used in the context of internet search, [binary search](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_search_algorithm) and other technical situations. It's uncommon outside technical contexts.

  * **探索** : It's used sometimes like 探求 and sometimes like サーチ.

  * **探し求める** : A compound verb made of 探す ("to search") and 求める ("to pursue"). It is used for something that you really want but don't know where it is, such as happiness, spouse, philosophical truth and ancient treasures.
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2023-04-24T02:12:06.250
99440
2023-04-24T02:12:06.250
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99424
answer