What does excavate mean?

Definitions for excavate
ˈɛks kəˌveɪtex·ca·vate

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word excavate.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. excavate, unearthverb

    recover through digging

    "Schliemann excavated Troy"; "excavate gold"

  2. excavate, dig up, turn upverb

    find by digging in the ground

    "I dug up an old box in the garden"

  3. excavateverb

    form by hollowing

    "Carnegie had a lake excavated for Princeton University's rowing team"; "excavate a cavity"

  4. excavate, dig, hollowverb

    remove the inner part or the core of

    "the mining company wants to excavate the hillside"

Wiktionary

  1. excavateverb

    To make a hole in (something); to hollow.

  2. excavateverb

    To remove part of (something) by scooping or digging it out.

  3. excavateverb

    To uncover (something) by removing its covering.

  4. Etymology: Known since 1599, from excavatus, perfect passive participle of excavo, from ex + cavo, from cavus.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To EXCAVATEverb

    To hollow; to cut into hollows.

    Etymology: excavo, Latin.

    The cups, gilt with a golden border about the brim, were of that wonderful smalness, that Faber put a thousand of them into an excavated pepper-corn. John Ray, on the Creation.

    Though nitrous tempests, and clandestine death,
    Fill’d the deep caves, and num’rous vaults beneath,
    Which form’d with art, and wrought with endless toil,
    Ran through the faithless excavated soil,
    See the unweary’d Briton delves his way,
    And to the caverns lets in war and day. Richard Blackmore, Creation.

    Flat thecæ, some like hats, some like buttons, excavated in the middle. William Derham, Physico-Theology.

ChatGPT

  1. excavate

    Excavate is a verb that is generally defined as the process of making a hole or cavity by removing a large quantity of soil or rock, often with the intent of unearthing artifacts or for construction purposes like laying a foundation. It can also refer to uncovering or bringing to light something that has been hidden or lost.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Excavateverb

    to hollow out; to form cavity or hole in; to make hollow by cutting, scooping, or digging; as, to excavate a ball; to excavate the earth

  2. Excavateverb

    to form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a channel

  3. Excavateverb

    to dig out and remove, as earth

  4. Etymology: [L. excavatus, p. p. of excavare to excavate; ex out + cavare to make hollow, cavus hollow. See Cave.]

Wikidata

  1. Excavate

    The excavates are a major subgroup of unicellular eukaryotes, often known as Excavata. The phylogenetic category Excavata, proposed by Cavalier-Smith in 2002, contains a variety of free-living and symbiotic forms, and also includes some important parasites of humans.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Excavate

    eks′ka-vāt, v.t. to hollow or scoop out: to dig out.—ns. Excavā′tion, act of excavating: a hollow or cavity made by excavating; Ex′cavator, one who excavates: a machine used for excavating. [L. excavāreex, out, cavus, hollow.]

Entomology

  1. Excavate

    with a depression that is not the segment of a circle.

Matched Categories

How to pronounce excavate?

How to say excavate in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of excavate in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of excavate in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of excavate in a Sentence

  1. Mark Milburn:

    When we find cannons, we’re quite excited because, if we’re allowed to excavate around them, there will be ‘concretions’ of items near the cannon from when the ship sank.

  2. Charles Kalemba:

    It’s worse today. A number of places are flooding and a number of roads and bridges are cut. Visibility is almost zero. Electricity is off and also network is a problem. It’s becoming more and more dire, it’s tough. We need to use machinery (for rescue operations) but machines cannot go to places where they were supposed to excavate because of the rains.

  3. Nicholas Reeves:

    The key is to excavate slowly and carefully and record well. The fact is this isn't a race. All archaeology is disruption. We can't go back and re-do it, so we have to do it well in the first place, i’m feeling more certain today than I expected to be.

  4. Steve Membery:

    Its relatively rare to excavate this number of Roman burials in our region, but in particular, in this case, we are very confident that all the burials are people who worked on a Roman villa estate.

  5. Jeremy DeSilva:

    Mary Leakey made exquisitely detailed maps of the footprint localities. From Mary Leakey map, we were able to approximate where the tracks should be. We began to dig, hoping for the best, but fearing instead that forty years of seasonal rains had washed them away, the soil was hard as cement and it took a hammer and chisel to reach the footprint layer, which we then needed to excavate delicately with a hard-bristled brush and tongue depressor. Fortunately, the footprints were beautifully preserved.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

excavate#10000#76481#100000

Translations for excavate

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for excavate »

Translation

Find a translation for the excavate definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"excavate." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/excavate>.

Discuss these excavate definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for excavate? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    denote or connote
    A conform
    B adventure
    C conceal
    D signify

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for excavate: