You can if you [precede the tag in the search with a minus (-)][1]: shell [cmd] -[linux] The following links pop for searches across the SOFU for questions that mention *shell* tagged [tag:cmd] but **not** tagged [tag:linux]. StackOverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=shell+%5Bcmd%5D+-%5Blinux%5D ServerFault: https://serverfault.com/search?q=shell+%5Bcmd%5D+-%5Blinux%5D SuperUser: https://superuser.com/search?q=shell+%5Bcmd%5D+-%5Blinux%5D [1]: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/16462/can-i-do-complex-tag-searches