EXCAVATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does excavate mean? 

• EXCAVATE (verb)
  The verb EXCAVATE has 4 senses:

1. recover through digging

2. find by digging in the ground

3. form by hollowing

4. remove the inner part or the core of

  Familiarity information: EXCAVATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXCAVATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they excavate    ... he / she / it excavates   
Past simple: excavated   
Past participle: excavated   
-ing form: excavating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Recover through digging

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

excavate; unearth

Context example:

excavate gold

Hypernyms (to "excavate" is one way to...):

bring out; reveal; unveil (make visible)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "excavate"):

dig; dig out; dig up (remove, harvest, or recover by digging)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s Adjective

Derivation:

excavation (the act of digging)

excavation (a hole in the ground made by excavating)

excavation (the site of an archeological exploration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Find by digging in the ground

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

dig up; excavate; turn up

Context example:

I dug up an old box in the garden

Hypernyms (to "excavate" is one way to...):

obtain (come into possession of)

Verb group:

locate; turn up (discover the location of; determine the place of; find by searching or examining)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "excavate"):

grub out; grub up (dig up)

nuzzle (dig out with the snout)

disinter; exhume (dig up for reburial or for medical investigation; of dead bodies)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

excavation (the act of digging)

excavation (a hole in the ground made by excavating)

excavation (the site of an archeological exploration)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Form by hollowing

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

excavate a cavity

Hypernyms (to "excavate" is one way to...):

core out; hollow; hollow out (remove the interior of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

excavation (a hole in the ground made by excavating)

excavator (a machine for excavating)

excavator (a workman who excavates for foundations of buildings or for quarrying)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Remove the inner part or the core of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

dig; excavate; hollow

Context example:

the mining company wants to excavate the hillside

Hypernyms (to "excavate" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "excavate"):

drive (excavate horizontally)

ditch; trench (cut a trench in, as for drainage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They excavate the trees

Derivation:

excavation (the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth)

excavation (a hole in the ground made by excavating)

 Context examples 

This happens because impacts excavate lunar boulders that are ground into soil over tens to hundreds of millions of years by a constant rain of tiny meteorites.

(Moon Data Sheds Light on Earth’s Asteroid Impact History, NASA)

These regions near the poles have been studied by NASA's Phoenix lander, which scraped up ice, and MRO, which has taken many images from space of meteor impacts that have excavated this ice.

(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)

This necropolis is made up of at least 17 tholos‑type tombs –places used for collective burials– that were excavated between 1968 and 1971.

(The necropolis of El Barranquete in Níjar (Almería), proven to have been used for funerary rituals throughout the Bronze Age, University of Granada)

These characteristics mean impactors tend to compress the surface, rather than excavating it, and most material that is blown off the surface never returns.

(Cassini Prepares for Last Up-close Look at Hyperion, NASA)

The researchers worked closely with local and regional native tribal groups as they excavated the site.

(Archaeologists discover remains of Ice-Age infants in Alaska, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The researchers suspected that mussels, by paving the marsh surface with their ribbed shells, attracted burrowing crabs that excavate underground water storage compartments.

(Biodiversity in salt marshes builds climate resilience, NSF)

Part of the Shingopana skeleton was excavated in 2002 by scientists affiliated with the Rukwa Rift Basin Project, an international effort led by Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine researchers Patrick O'Connor and Nancy Stevens.

(Paleontologists discover new species of sauropod dinosaur in Tanzania, National Science Foundation)

These meteorites are essentially excavated from a depth of about a kilometer below the surface by the initial impact that sent them out into space, so they aren't representative of the more recent geology at the surface of Mars.

(New Evidence for A Water-Rich History on Mars, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The only point which I could not quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press in excavating fuller’s-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out like gravel from a pit.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With much difficulty and some danger she was dug out, for Jo was so overcome with laughter while she excavated that her knife went too far, cut the poor foot, and left a lasting memorial of one artistic attempt, at least.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)