Semantic search
Searching by meaning rather than by exact words, so 'delay' can find 'postponed'.
An embedding turns a piece of text into a position on a map. Texts that mean similar things land close together, even with different words. Searching by meaning means looking for the nearest neighbours on the map.
The fuller definition
Semantic search aims to retrieve material related in meaning to a query, often using embeddings or language models.
Go deeper
Related phrasing can be nearby in an embedding space. Real embeddings have many dimensions, and the model determines similarity. Nearby does not mean legally relevant or factually correct.
A concrete example
A search for delivery postponement may find a passage saying shipment was delayed even without the exact wording.
The distinction that matters
Meaning-based matching can miss exact identifiers or return thematically similar but irrelevant material.
Related terms
Where it is taught
How document-grounded AI answers workSource and further reading
Sentence Transformers · Semantic searchThe definition and example are written for this library. The link gives background, official documentation or legal authority as labelled. Legal scope depends on the jurisdiction and current text; product features depend on release and settings.