Glossary

An independent search engine that shows AI answers and real web results side by side, organized by topic. It is also the name of the general site, 4search.com, which has no single subject.

The collection of articles that 4Search has gathered from many outlets. The News, Images and Videos tabs search it.

The lowest and highest prices of the last year. Finance draws it as a bar with a dot for today's price, and also shows how far the price is below the high.

Putting a 4Search site on your phone's home screen so it opens in its own window like an app. It is the website itself, not an app store download.

A National Weather Service alert for a less serious hazard that can still be a nuisance or a danger.

Photographs of the ground taken from planes or satellites, shown by the Satellite map type. National aerial photos show single houses; elsewhere a world satellite mosaic shows towns and fields.

A link to a store that earns 4Internet, LLC a commission if you make a qualifying purchase, at no extra cost to you. Shopping results are not ordered by commission.

A tag on a member's Yea or Nay that is the opposite of the way most of their party voted on that roll call. For an independent, the comparison is with the party they caucus with. The tag does not say why they voted as they did.

A short summary written by AI at the top of many Politics pages, built from the page's records and recent headlines. It can be wrong, so check the page's own tables and the official source.

A tab where you ask in plain language and keep asking follow-up questions in a conversation. It cites the sources it used and says it can make mistakes.

A short answer written by an AI service and shown above the results, once you have allowed AI answers. It can be incomplete or wrong, so check the sources.

The site's page that describes its AI answers, what is sent to the AI provider, and names that provider.

The optional privacy category that lets your question and selected result context be sent to the AI provider, so the AI Overview and AI Mode can answer. It is off until you allow it.

A number for how clean the air is, from 0 upward, grouped into categories from Good to Hazardous. Weather shows it for U.S. places with a reporting area nearby.

A way of writing a chance used in betting: a likelier outcome as a minus number (-163) and an unlikely one as a plus number (+300). Select US on any Predictions page to use it.

A box on the All tab. While it is ticked, the date you choose also narrows the Web column.

The time an offer's price was read from the store, such as as of 12:43 AM ET. The store's price at checkout is the one that applies.

A state with only one seat in the House has an at-large representative, who represents the whole state. Politics writes the district as AL, for example AK-AL.

What is riding on a market's outcome right now: the contracts traders hold, in dollars. It differs from Traded, the total that has changed hands since the market opened.

The first setting of the date filter. 4Search picks how far back to look for your search and shows the period it chose, such as Auto (30 days).

When a search from the home page or the All tab clearly asks for news, shopping or a website, 4Search opens that tab and says so.

One hundredth of a percentage point. A move from 4.00% to 4.25% is 25 basis points.

A directions button, shown once a trip has four or more places, that keeps your start and destination and reorders the stops in between for the shortest trip.

How much a stock has moved compared with the whole market over five years. A beta of 1 means it moves in line with the market; above 1, more; below 1, less.

The bid is the best price a buyer of "Yes" offers and the ask the best price a seller asks. The chance shown is usually the midpoint between them; the gap between them is the spread.

The label a bill gets when it is introduced, such as H.R. 1 or S. 146. H.R. means it started in the House and S. that it started in the Senate. Numbers start again at 1 in each Congress.

A measure of how far chances were from what happened, from 0 (perfect) upward. Calling everything 50% scores 0.25. Lower is better.

Small pieces of data that a site keeps in your browser, such as your privacy choices and your theme. Clearing a site's cookies and data deletes them.

How closely a market's chances match what happens: in a well-calibrated market, outcomes priced at 70% happen about 70% of the time. The Track Record page charts it.

A chart in which each period is a candle. The body runs from the open to the close, green if the price rose and red if it fell, and the thin line shows the low and high.

The chair leads a committee and comes from the majority party. The ranking member is the senior member of the minority party on the committee.

The forecast chance that measurable rain or snow falls in a period, shown as a percentage. Weather shows it when it is 10% or more.

A small number in an AI Mode answer that points to one of the articles the answer read, listed in the Sources box under it.

A Senate vote to end debate on a measure, including a filibuster, so that a vote on it can be held. The vote page shows the majority required, such as 3/5 for a bill.

A group of data centers in one area where a cloud provider runs its services. The data center map shows regions of five big providers at the city each names.

One of three looks for the site: Hybrid (a dark header around light content, the default), Light or Dark. The button in the header and the chooser in the footer switch it.

A group of members that studies bills and issues in one subject area. Bills go to a committee first, and a subcommittee is a smaller group within it. Politics lists each one with its members.

A product's own page in Shopping, opened with Compare N stores, with a table of every store's price, shipping, total, condition and check time.

Whether an offer is New, Used, Refurbished, Open box or For parts. New only hides the others; typing refurbished or used in a search asks for them.

Congresses are numbered, and each lasts two years. The 119th Congress meets in 2025 and 2026. Bills and votes belong to one Congress, and Politics covers the current one.

A browser extension or setting that stops some parts of a page from loading. It can stop Google's web results from appearing.

What traders buy on a prediction-market venue: a promise that pays $1 if an outcome happens and nothing if it does not. A contract priced at 62¢ means traders give the outcome 62%.

A position given as latitude (north or south) and longitude (east or west), such as 42.3601, -71.0589. Type them into the Maps search box to drop a pin there.

A way to order the Topics list: the topics with the most stories in the last year first.

How far back a search looks, set in the date menu, from 1 hour to All.

What $1 returns in all, stake included, if an outcome happens: 1 divided by its chance. A 50% chance is 2.00. Select Dec on any Predictions page to use it.

A member who represents the District of Columbia or a U.S. territory in the House. Puerto Rico's is called the Resident Commissioner. Politics lists them with the House.

The temperature at which the air would be saturated with moisture. A higher dew point means the air feels more humid.

The dividend a company pays in a year as a percentage of its share price. A dash means the company pays none.

An older browser signal. The Privacy Policy says it does not communicate a standardized legal choice, so 4Search does not treat it as an opt-out. Global Privacy Control is used instead.

A red pin you place on any spot by right-clicking it (or pressing and holding) and choosing What's here?. Its page gives the address, coordinates, elevation, nearest town and local time.

The percentage by which a company's reported earnings per share was above (a beat) or below (a miss) what analysts expected.

A chart under a route that shows how the ground rises and falls along it, with the total climb and descent. It appears for walks and rides, and on request for drives.

Earnings per share: a company's profit divided by its number of shares. The earnings calendar compares each company's reported EPS with the estimate to show the surprise.

A fund that holds many investments and trades on an exchange like a stock. Its page shows its holdings, net assets and the yearly fee, called the expense ratio.

A written directive from the President about how the federal government operates. Each is numbered and published in the Federal Register.

The days of a U.S. place's 10-day forecast after the National Weather Service's seven, from MET Norway's computer model with no forecaster's review.

The government's daily publication of rules, proposed rules and presidential documents. Politics reads executive orders, rules and proposed rules from it and links each document to its Federal Register page.

What the temperature feels like to a person: with humidity taken into account when it is hot, and wind when it is cold. Otherwise it equals the temperature.

A rule an agency has adopted. It has an effective date, the day it begins to apply.

A question that builds on the conversation in AI Mode. A short follow-up is understood, and searched, together with your earlier question.

Putting a stock, topic, place, bill, market or map place on a list of your own. You select the star or Follow, and the item appears on your list page. The list is kept in your browser.

The National Hurricane Center's map of where the center of a storm will probably go. It does not show the storm's size or where its effects will reach.

The home page's stories, grouped by topic under Top stories. Latest shows the newest articles in one list. Topics you follow come first.

A button on a news result that searches the whole index for other outlets' reports on the same story. Its small arrow narrows the search to one of the result's topics.

Contracts to buy or sell something at a set price on a future date. Finance shows futures for commodities such as oil and gold and for stock indexes, usually the contract that expires soonest.

A common file format for map data. Download (GeoJSON) on the Saved page saves your places in it, so most mapping programs can open them.

A browser signal that tells sites not to sell or share your data. 4Search honors it: the Advertising choice is switched off while your browser sends it.

The web results on a results page that come from Google's search service. The privacy panel lists them as an always-active category.

A measure of an AI system's computing power, in units of one NVIDIA H100 chip, used on the data center map as Epoch AI estimates it.

The one place Weather opens on for you. You set it with Set as home on a place's page. It is kept in a cookie in your browser.

A box titled Please confirm you are human that asks you to press and hold a button for a few seconds when the site cannot tell whether you are a person. Completing it lets Google results and AI answers load.

A hurricane's strength from 1 to 5 by its sustained winds, from 74 mph for Category 1 to 157 mph or more for Category 5.

How much movement an option's price implies for the stock. Higher implied volatility means the options market expects bigger swings.

A score that tracks a group of stocks, such as the S&P 500 for 500 large U.S. companies. An index is measured in points and cannot be bought directly; funds track them.

A shape in which short-term yields are higher than long-term ones. It has often come before a recession in the past, but it is not a forecast.

Extra information drawn on top of the map, such as transit lines, bike paths, weather radar or data centers. Turn layers on and off in the Layers menu; several can be on at once.

The first and largest story in a front-page group, with its picture and opening words.

The store's own "list" or "was" price, shown in small type beside its current price. Shopping shows it as the store gives it.

A detail an AI states confidently that no source supports. The reason to check an answer's sources before relying on it.

The majority is the party with more seats in a chamber, and the minority is the other. A committee's page lists its members under the same two headings.

How the ground is drawn: Default, Satellite, Terrain, Light or Dark, chosen in the Layers menu. Only one map type is on at a time; layers go on top of it.

The row of links under the Maps search box: Explore, Directions, Saved, each type of map, Data centers and World. Selecting a type sets the map up for it.

The value of all of a company's shares at today's price, found by multiplying the price by the number of shares. It is the usual measure of how big a company is, shown in billions (B) or trillions (T).

On the Elections page, the leading outcome of the most traded prediction market on a race, with its chance and its source. It is the market's top choice, not a forecast and not a poll.

A stock making an unusually large move in price or trading volume. Finance lists the day's top gainers, top losers and most active stocks.

The filter-row menu that chooses between meaning, text or both, and which part of an article to compare.

Matching what you meant rather than your exact words, so an article can match without sharing them. It is how most searches run.

For a question about a number, the level where traders see an even chance of the result being higher or lower. The middle half is the range between the 25th and 75th percentiles.

An AI Mode chat holds 10 messages; the counter by the send button shows how many you have used. Start a new chat to keep going.

A House shortcut for passing a bill quickly after limited debate. It needs two-thirds of the members voting, so the vote page shows Required: 2/3.

The average price over the last several periods, redrawn each period so it follows the price. It smooths out day-to-day noise to show the trend.

The U.S. government agency, part of NOAA, whose forecasts, observations and alerts Weather shows for places in the United States.

The row of menus under the search box that narrows the news results by time, by which part of an article to match, by length and by sentiment.

The average high, low and rain for a date over the 30 years from 1991 to 2020, shown on the Monthly calendar and in the Almanac.

On Predictions, the chance traders give an outcome, read from the price they pay. It is shown as a percentage unless you switch to American or decimal odds.

One store's price for a product in one condition, with its shipping and the time it was checked. A product page lists every offer side by side.

A box above kind-of-place search results that hides every place not open at this moment by its local time, including places whose hours are not on the map.

A free map of the world made and kept up by volunteers, the source of the streets, buildings, businesses and opening hours on Maps. Anyone can correct it through Report a map error.

A command typed with your words, such as site: or filetype:, that narrows the Google-hosted Web results.

The list of option contracts for a stock on one expiration date, with calls on the left, puts on the right and the strike prices between them. A call gains when the stock rises and a put when it falls.

The price of a share divided by the company's earnings per share. A P/E of 40 means paying $40 for each $1 of yearly profit. The trailing P/E uses the last twelve months of earnings; the forward P/E uses what analysts expect for the next twelve.

A vote in which most Republicans and most Democrats voted on opposite sides. Politics marks these so you can filter for them on the Votes page.

On a site that shows Google display ads, the optional category that lets Google personalize them. Without it the ads are non-personalized.

A short code such as 87JC9W5R+93 that names a spot about 14 meters across anywhere in the world. Maps shows one for every place and lets you search with it, which helps where streets have no addresses.

The heading over the site's own groups on the front page when your followed topics come first.

Trading before the regular U.S. market session opens and after it closes, with fewer trades. A stock's page shows the price from these sessions under its regular price.

A place where people buy and sell contracts on whether something will happen, such as an election result or a Fed decision. The price of a contract is read as the market's chance of that outcome.

A question about a number asked as a series of levels, such as "above 4.25%, above 4.50%". Together the prices give a spread of outcomes, shown with its median and middle half.

The box titled Your privacy choices that appears on your first visit, with the buttons Allow All, Reject non-essential and Manage choices. It goes away once you choose.

A request you send through the Privacy Request Form to see, correct or delete your information, opt out of sale or sharing, or appeal a decision.

A browser window that forgets a site's data when it closes. In one, 4Search cannot remember your privacy choices, theme or lists for next time.

A presidential document that usually marks an observance or sets trade or immigration measures. A memorandum is a presidential instruction to agencies.

An agency's draft of a new rule, published so the public can comment on it before it is made final.

The period when anyone may send an agency comments on a proposed rule. Comments are filed at regulations.gov, and each proposed rule shows the date its comments close.

The number a bill receives when it becomes law, such as Public Law 119-12, the 12th law of the 119th Congress.

Two ways to count the date window: from the date on the article, or from the day 4Search found it.

What the radar map shows: how strongly rain, snow or hail send the radar's signal back. Colors run from light (blue, green) to heavy (yellow to red) to the most intense (magenta).

A code such as K7QM-3XHP-9RWD shown after you send a message through the contact form. Quote it if you follow up.

The button under the latest AI Mode answer that asks the same question again for a new answer. It counts as a message.

A button that turns every optional privacy category off and keeps only the two always-active ones. It also deletes what Saved preferences kept.

A menu on a result card that searches for other articles sharing this one's keywords, people, organizations, places, tags, categories or numbers.

A measure that is not an ordinary bill. A simple resolution (H.Res., S.Res.) needs one chamber. A concurrent resolution (H.Con.Res., S.Con.Res.) needs both chambers but not the President. A joint resolution (H.J.Res., S.J.Res.) is handled like a bill.

One article in the results: its source, age, length, tone, headline, summary, topic path and coverage buttons.

The column of News results beside an AI Mode chat, showing the search behind your latest question.

A vote in the House or the Senate in which each member's answer is recorded by name. Politics lists every roll call of the current Congress, with the tally, the result and how each member voted.

A momentum gauge from 0 to 100 drawn under the price chart. Readings above 70 are often called stretched and below 30 oversold.

An optional privacy choice. When it is on, this site keeps the things you choose to save, such as followed topics, stocks and places, in your browser.

A search limited to one topic. The Searching label above the search box names the topic.

A broad part of the stock market, such as technology, energy or health care. Finance shows eleven sectors and tracks each through a fund.

The tone of news coverage. Finance counts positive, neutral and negative articles about a company and shows the result as a bar and a word: Positive, Mixed or Negative. It describes the writing, not what the stock will do.

A menu of the numbers 1 (most negative) to 10 (most positive). Tick some to keep only articles with that tone.

A tab that does more than search: Finance, Politics, Predictions, Weather, Maps or Shopping. Each service is available only on some sites.

A market is settled when its venue has decided the result. Its page then shows what happened and the chance traders gave it the day before.

The round button with a shield at the bottom left of a page. It appears after you make a privacy choice, and it reopens the privacy panel.

The share of a stock that investors have sold short, which is a bet that its price will fall. A high figure means many are betting on a drop.

A rule that the Office of Management and Budget reviews under Executive Order 12866 because it has large economic effects or novel policy. Politics tags these Significant.

The website that published an article, named at the top of its result card. Select the name to see the website's profile.

The list under an AI Mode answer of the news articles it read, with how many it cited. Select one to open the article.

A maker or shop that sells one line, such as socks, watches or fly-fishing gear. Shopping asks the specialty stores whose line matches your search words.

The member who introduces a bill. A cosponsor is a member who adds their name to it, and an original cosponsor signed on when the bill was introduced.

The ready-made questions on an empty AI Mode screen. Select one to ask it.

The Shopping results: the stores' current offers for your search, grouped so each card is one product with its best offer.

One topic's stories on the front page, under the topic's name, with a star to follow it and More to open its page.

Photos of streets and paths taken by contributors to Panoramax, a free and open collection, many of them 360° panoramas you can look around in.

The privacy category for what the site needs to work securely: security checks, protected forms, the human check and your saved privacy choices. It is always active and cannot be turned off.

Any 4 Network site other than 4Search that is focused on one subject. A subject site has its own topics, tagline and look, and fewer services than 4Search.

A topic inside another topic, such as Baseball inside Sports. Open them with the arrow in the Topics list or on the topic's page.

The list of possible searches that appears under the search box after you type two letters.

One item in the row under the logo, such as All, News, Finance or Maps. Each tab is a different kind of search or a whole service, and the words you typed travel with you when you switch.

The (Text) options of the match menu, which look for your actual words and understand quotes, plus and minus signs.

The family of sites that share one search engine, each focused on a subject such as football, a city or a faith. The footer of every page lists the featured ones.

A market with little money traded, whose price one trade can move. Predictions leaves thin markets out of the Movers page and the calendar.

The short code a security trades under, such as AAPL for Apple. Finance also uses codes for other things, such as BTC-USD for bitcoin and ^GSPC for the S&P 500.

Words like today, last week or past 3 hours that set the date window when the date menu is on Auto.

The small green and red bar on a result card. The green share shows how positive the article's wording reads, as an automatic estimate.

A subject 4Search has organized part of its index into, with its own page, a live feed of stories and often subtopics. Topics are arranged in a tree, from broad areas to narrow ones.

The search box on the Topics tab. It suggests topics by their names and by meaning, each with a button to search your words inside it.

The page of one topic: what it covers, its subtopics, the words it collects on and its latest articles.

The line on a card, such as Home and Garden › Home, that shows where 4Search filed an article among its topics. Each step opens that topic.

The menu of a site's topics at the left of the page. On a phone it opens from a Topics button. Select a name to open a topic, or the arrow beside it to see its subtopics.

The service in the row of tabs that lists the site's topics and finds the topics best suited to any words.

The words that bring an article into a topic, listed on the topic's page. Each one is also a search.

A shaded area showing everywhere you can reach from one spot within a given time, worked out along real roads and paths. Maps draws three, for 10, 20 and 30 minutes (5, 10 and 15 on foot).

A result that traders gave under 30% the day before the market closed.

How strong the sun's ultraviolet light is, from Low (0 to 2) to Extreme (11 and above).

The exchange where a prediction market's contracts trade. Predictions reads four venues, Kalshi, Polymarket, ForecastEx and Crypto.com, and names the venue on every price.

The number of shares that have changed hands in a period, usually today. A day with unusually high volume often means news.

A National Weather Service alert meaning the hazard named is happening or about to happen. Take action.

A National Weather Service alert meaning conditions could produce the hazard named. Be ready to act.

A page of the stocks, funds, indexes, currencies and coins you follow, with their latest prices. In Finance it is kept in your browser and needs Saved preferences.

Google-hosted web pages shown in the Web column beside the News results on the All, Web, News and Websites tabs.

A panel above the results when a search is narrowed to one site: what it publishes, how much, what it covers and a box to search inside it.

The number of words in the text 4Search indexed for an article, shown on its card. The length menu filters on it.

The two answers that count in a roll call: yea, in favor, and nay, against. A member can also answer present, which counts as neither, or not vote at all.

The yearly interest rate a bond pays, expressed as a percentage. The Treasury yield curve plots the yield the U.S. government pays for loans of different lengths.

The places you saved on Maps, sorted into lists such as Starred places, Favorites, Want to go, Home and Work. They are kept only in your browser, with Saved preferences allowed.

The page and panel where you decide about optional features: AI answers, Saved preferences and advertising. You can change your choices at any time.

The topics you follow, kept in your browser. They come first on the front page and appear on the Topics page and News results.