Scour – 1. To thoroughly search a place (or text) for something 2. To clean the surface of something by scrubbing it

(Pronounced skour (rhymes with flour))

To remember the definition of the word scour, use the following mnemonic:

The scouts in our (scour) house thoroughly search for surfaces to scrub clean.

Examples of scour in a sentence (thoroughly search)

Help me scour the area to find the missing person.

I used to scour the forest for rare flowers, but gave up after they cut it down.

You need to scour your room to find the missing toy.

Examples of scour in a sentence (To clean the surface by scrubbing)

To scour these dirty pans will be hard work, but they'll look great when I'm done.

You need to clean these antique items carefully, don't scour them.

Tell the cleaner to scour the work surfaces.