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Flexible Searching:
What flexible search options are there?
How do I search for related meanings?
How can I search for variations on a search term?
How do I find variant spellings of a search term?
Can I search on related meanings and variant spellings at the same time?
What flexible search options are there?
Related meanings:
Allows you to broaden or narrow your search enquiry by including meanings that are directly, closely, or generally related to your search word(s) or phrases.
Example:
- Searching for “asylum seeker” would also return results containing “refugee”;
- Searching on “MAFF” will find “Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food”.
Variant spellings:
Allows you to include variant spellings of your search terms.
Example:
- Searching for “Mackeral” will also return results containing “Mackerel”.
How do I search for related meanings?
- Click on Advanced search in the search bar;
- On the Advanced Search page, scroll down the page to the section titled "How do you want to search UKOP?";
- Select the related meaning option you wish to use.
The charts below show what you can find using the three available options.
Directly related searching:
| Finds |
Examples |
Use this if you want to |
| Exact matches |
Asylum seeker = asylum seeker |
Carry out more precise searching |
| Plurals |
Asylum seeker = asylum seekers |
| Variations on words |
Buy = bought |
| A word in its simpler form |
Tallest = tall |
| Expansions of common official publications acronyms |
DfES = Department for Education and Skills |
| British/American spellings |
Labour = labor |
Closely related searching:
Closely related searching is the default for the basic search option.
| Finds |
Examples |
Use this if you want to |
| All of the meanings directly related to the search term |
Asylum seeker = refugees, minorities, immigration |
Research the subjects you are interested in more thoroughly for closely related terms as well as exact matches. |
| Closely related synonyms |
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Generally related searching:
Enables you to broaden your search to include terms that are generally related to your search terms.
| Finds |
Examples |
Use this if you want to |
| All of the meanings directly and closely related to the search term |
Asylum seeker = refugees, minorities, immigration, home, harbour, protection |
Use this option if you want to broaden your research to information in the same general area. |
| General synonyms |
Hot = cold |
| Strong opposites (antonyms) |
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How can I search for variations on a search term?
You can search UKOP using variations on a word or number by using the following characters, (referred to as “wildcard operators”), to represent one or more characters in a word or number:
| Wilcard |
Description |
Example |
| @ |
Matches one alphabetical character exactly |
L@st will find last, list, lost, lest |
| # |
Matches one numeric character exactly |
#600 will find 1600, 2600 etc |
| * |
Matches any character(s) |
Polic* will find policies, policing, policy, policyholders |
| ? |
Matches one character exactly |
La?er will find later, laser, la3er, etc |
| [] |
Matches only one character specified within the brackets; a hyphen can be used to indicate a range of numbers or letters |
199[1-6] will find 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 |
| [^] |
Matches any character except the next character |
199[^1-3] will not find 1991, 1992 or 1993, but will find 1994 etc. |
To search using wildcard operators:
- Enter the first few letters of the word into the search box followed by the wildcard operator;
- Click Go.
If you use a wildcard in one of your search words, UKOP does not include related meanings or variant spellings; it only implements the wildcard operator.
How do I find variant spellings of a search term?
If you are unsure of how to spell a word or name, you can use UKOP to find variant spellings:
- Click on Advanced search in the search bar;
- On the Advanced Search page, click the button next to “include variant spellings” in the “How do you want to search UKOP?” section.
Can I search on related meanings and variant spellings at the same time?
You can combine these features in the following way:
- To look for related meanings of a word when you have selected the variant spellings option on the Advanced Search page, or are doing a Boolean search:
- Type an ! (exclamation mark) immediately after the word (e.g. monarch!).
- To look for variant spellings when you have selected the related meanings option on the Advanced Search page, or are doing a Boolean search:
- Type a ~ (tilde) symbol immediately in front of the word (e.g. ~licence).
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