deep web

proper noun

The portion of the World Wide Web that is not indexed by conventional search engines.

Meanings

deep web1

proper noun
  1. Alternative letter-case form of Deep Web.

    Some of these information resources are “deep web” or “hidden web” assets, not easily accessible from typical Internet search engines.

    2008, Patrice McDermott, Who Needs to Know?, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    The classification of such web databases according to their application domain is an important step towards the integration of deep web sources.

    2013 July 1, Heidy M. Marin-Castro with Victor J. Sosa-Sosa, Ivan Lopez-Arevalo, and Hugo Jair Escalante-Baldera, “Automatic Classification of Web Databases Using Domain-Dictionaries”, in Machine Learning and Data Mining in Pattern Recognition, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference, page 431

    With the proliferation of deep web repositories...hidden behind proprietary web interfaces...efficient ways of exploring contents in such hidden repositories are of increasing importance in a wide variety of applications.

    2014 January 1, Guatam Das, “Mining and Analytic of Deep Web Repositories”, in Applied Algorithms, Proceedings of the 1st International Conference, page xvii

    Synonyms: Invisible Web

Deep Web2

proper nounthe Deep Web

alternative deep Web · alternative deep web · alternative deep-web

  1. InternetcomputingThe portion of the World Wide Web that is not indexed by conventional search engines.First known use 2001

    In contrast, most data in the deep Web are structured data records stored in backend database systems and there are usually no hyperlinks among these data records. Due to the existence of extensive links among Web pages in the surface […]

    2012, Eduard C. Dragut, Weiyi Meng, Clement Yu, Deep Web Query Interface Understanding and Integration, Morgan & Claypool Publishers, →ISBN, page 3

    Synonyms: Deep Net, Invisible Web, Hidden Web · Antonyms: Surface Web, visible Web, Clear Net, Indexed Web

  2. InternetproscribedcomputingThe Dark Web (the part of the Web only accessible via restricted networks).

    Synonyms: Dark Web

deep Web3

proper noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of Deep Web.

Synonyms & antonyms

proper nounThe portion of the World Wide Web that is not indexed by conventional search engines.

proper nounThe Dark Web (the part of the Web only accessible via restricted networks).

Similar

Origin

Coined by American web scientist Michael K. Bergman in 2001.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 深網 /深网
  • 深網 /深网 (Shēnwǎng)portion of the World Wide Web
Finnish syvä verkko
  • syvä verkkoportion of the World Wide Web
Korean 딥 웹
  • 딥 웹 (Dip wep)portion of the World Wide Web
Portuguese deep web, web profunda
  • deep webportion of the World Wide Web
  • web profundaportion of the World Wide Web
Cite this entry
APA

deep web. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deep%20web

MLA

“deep web.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deep%20web. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “deep web,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deep%20web.

Source: deep web on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.