Google continues to improve its search functionality by adding synonym searching. In order to use this new feature, simply preface your term with a tilde (~). The tilde is shorthand for “approximate,” and it should be placed immediately before (no space) a search term. The search engine will then search for the term as well as any synonyms (or approximate equivalents) for that term.
For example, if you were searching for browser help as well as browser guides and tutorials you could enter: browser~help.
Or a search on query~analysis finds matches with query statistics and query analyzer.
The tilde can be used with more than one keyword. For example, if you wanted to find information on footwear that is being sold at discount you enter: ~socks~sale
Another example, to search for food facts as well as nutrition and cooking information, use: ~food~facts
Some of the automatically generated terms may not be helpful, but when you are not aware of the vocabulary in a field, this could be quite helpful.
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