Meaning in life is linked to individuals' well-being. Existing research has generated mixed findings, suggesting that people who search for meaning in life and have a limited sense of meaning tend to experience higher depressive and anxiety symptoms. Recently, there has been a rise in the popularity of the tripartite model of meaning in life, encompassing purpose, comprehension, and mattering as the three subcomponents of meaning. The current study aims to investigate the effect of the interaction between the search for meaning (SML) and the presence of meaning (PML) on depressive and anxiety symptoms using this tripartite framework. Additionally, this study explored whether philosophical meaning in life and the reported behavior of meaning searching are associated with those emotional symptoms. The sample included 139 participants who completed measures of meaning in life (MLQ, MEMS, LRI-framework), depressive symptoms (BDI-II), and anxiety symptoms (BAI) and reported their meaning-searching behavior. Results show that PML, measured by both MLQ and MEMS, was negatively related to depressive and anxiety symptoms. Unexpectedly, SML was not related to emotional symptoms, and it interacted with PML measured by MEMS but not by MLQ in relation to emotional symptoms. Our findings suggest that SML may not relate to poor mental health, and further research is needed to explore under what circumstances that holds true.