Semantic search compares the meaning of a query to the meaning of indexed passages using embeddings, returning results that are conceptually related regardless of shared vocabulary.
It is commonly paired with keyword search in a hybrid approach, since exact matching remains superior for names, Bates numbers, and defined terms.
Alternative Names:
Meaning-Based Search, Vector Search
Why it Matters?
Legal records are full of synonym and paraphrase problems that keyword search handles poorly. Clinical terminology varies by provider, deposition testimony describes concepts without using their legal names, and productions use inconsistent vocabulary across custodians. Semantic retrieval closes those gaps, while hybrid search preserves the precision that exact matching provides for identifiers.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Is semantic search better than keyword search?
Does semantic search satisfy e-discovery search obligations?
