Query Rewriting

Transformation of the original query into a formulation better suited to the retrieval mechanism. A rewriter may resolve conversational references, remove noise, introduce domain vocabulary, or generate variants to broaden coverage. The result remains tied to the same information need even when multiple queries are emitted.

The technique helps when user language differs from corpus language, but it can drift from intent, erase constraints, or invent terms. Robust pipelines retain the original query, record every rewrite, and evaluate both retrieval and the final answer. Searching with the original and rewritten versions, followed by deduplication and reranking, provides a practical hedge against one poor rewrite. For compound questions, see query decomposition.