cast about


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cast about

or

cast around

vb
(intr, adverb) to make a mental or visual search: to cast about for an idea for a book.
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.cast about - search anxiouslycast about - search anxiously      
beat about, cast around
explore, research, search - inquire into; "the students had to research the history of the Second World War for their history project"; "He searched for information on his relatives on the web"; "Scientists are exploring the nature of consciousness"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

cast

verb
1. To send through the air with a motion of the hand or arm:
dart, dash, fling, heave, hurl, hurtle, launch, pitch, shoot, shy, sling, throw, toss.
Informal: fire.
2. To move (a weapon or blow, for example) in the direction of someone or something:
aim, direct, head, level, point, set, train, turn, zero in.
Military: lay.
3. To send out heat, light, or energy:
emit, irradiate, project, radiate, shed, throw.
4. To form a strategy for:
blueprint, chart, conceive, contrive, design, devise, formulate, frame, lay, plan, project, scheme, strategize, work out.
Informal: dope out.
Idiom: lay plans.
5. To ascertain by mathematics:
calculate, cipher, compute, figure, reckon.
6. To combine (figures) to form a sum:
add (up), foot (up), sum (up), tot (up), total, totalize.
phrasal verb
cast about
To try to find something:
hunt, look, quest, search, seek.
phrasal verb
cast out
To rid one's mind of:
banish, dismiss, dispel, shut out.
noun
1. An act of throwing:
fling, heave, hurl, launch, pitch, shy, sling, throw, toss.
2. A disposition of the facial features that conveys meaning, feeling, or mood:
aspect, countenance, expression, face, look, visage.
3. A hollow device for shaping a fluid or plastic substance:
form, matrix, mold.
4. The external outline of a thing:
configuration, figure, form, pattern, shape.
5. A class that is defined by the common attribute or attributes possessed by all its members:
breed, description, feather, ilk, kind, lot, manner, mold, nature, order, sort, species, stamp, stripe, type, variety.
Informal: persuasion.
6. An inclination to something:
bent, bias, disposition, leaning, partiality, penchant, predilection, predisposition, proclivity, proneness, propensity, squint, tendency, trend, turn.
7. A shade of a color, especially a pale or delicate variation:
hue, tinge, tint, tone.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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