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AI and Data

What Is Semantic Search?

Search that matches meaning rather than exact keywords, so a question in plain English can find relevant documents that use different wording.

Legal Tech GlossaryBy The Circle Desk

Why It Matters

Semantic search makes a firm's documents and a legal team's contracts findable by people who do not know the exact terms used. Most modern tools combine it with keyword search, because lawyers still need exact-phrase precision for some tasks.

Knowledge & Document Management Companies

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Related Terms

Embeddings
Numeric representations of text that capture meaning, so a computer can tell that "terminate for convenience" and "end the agreement without cause" are related.
Enterprise search
Search across many internal systems at once, such as the DMS, email, intranet and matter systems, from one search box.
Boolean search
Keyword search using operators such as AND, OR, NOT and proximity connectors to control exactly which documents match.

General information, not legal advice. Part of the Legal Tech Glossary, 173 terms in plain English.