Many times, search and seek can be interchanged, not all. If you are striving for something (enlightenment, peace) or something else spiritual, you would use 'seek'. Also, if you want advice, you would seek it, not search for it. If I were looking through my house for something I had lost, I would search for it, not seek.

Well, you can think of "seek" as philosophical. You are looking for something that you can't physically grasp. "Search" would be for something more physical. Example. You can "search" for your car. You can state that you are "searching" for enlightenment (this sounds a tad weird though). You can "seek" enlightenment, but you wouldn't say," I'm seeking my car." Those are just guidelines, they're not the definitive use clauses. But, I will say that "search" is more flexible.

It's quite simple. :) Seek is transitive. You must tell us WHAT you seek. Search is intransitive. If you tell us the object, you need a preposition: search for... Check the other answers, as they've given good examples of how seek and search work in a sentence.

SEEK has the following usages : 1. to go in search or quest of: e.g. to seek the truth. 2. to try to find or discover by searching or questioning: e.g. to seek the solution to a problem. 3. to try to obtain: e.g. to seek fame. 4. to try or attempt (usually followed by an infinitive): e.g. to seek to convince a person. 5. to go to: e.g. to seek a place to rest. 6. to ask for; request: e.g. to seek advice. ***************************************************************************************** SEARCH has the following usages : 1. to go or look through (a place, area, etc.) carefully in order to find something missing or lost: e.g. They searched the woods for the missing child. I searched the desk for the letter. 2. to look at or examine (a person, object, etc.) carefully in order to find something concealed: e.g. He searched the vase for signs of a crack. The police searched the suspect for weapons. 3. to explore or examine in order to discover: e.g. They searched the hills for gold. 4.to look at, read, or examine (a record, writing, collection, repository, etc.) for information: to search a property title; e.g. He searched the courthouse for a record of the deed to the land. 5. to look at or beneath the superficial aspects of to discover a motive, reaction, feeling, basic truth, etc.: e.g. He searched her face for a clue to her true feelings. 6. to look into, question, or scrutinize: e.g. She searched her conscience. 7. (of natural elements) to pierce or penetrate: e.g. The sunlight searched the room's dark corners. 8. to uncover or find by examination or exploration (often followed by out ): e.g. to search out all the facts. ***************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************** Now when you compare the two, SEEK has a sense of having a goal in mind. Whereas SEARCH is more like trying to find something out in a premises.