exhume

[ ig-zoom, -zyoom, eks-hyoom ]
See synonyms for exhume on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),ex·humed, ex·hum·ing.
  1. to dig (something buried, especially a dead body) out of the earth; disinter.

  2. to revive or restore after neglect or a period of forgetting; bring to light: to exhume a literary reputation; to exhume old letters.

Origin of exhume

1
1400–50; late Middle English <Medieval Latin exhumāre, equivalent to Latin ex-ex-1 + humāre to inter

Other words from exhume

  • ex·hu·ma·tion [eks-hyoo-mey-shuhn], /ˌɛks hyʊˈmeɪ ʃən/, noun
  • ex·hum·er, noun
  • un·ex·humed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use exhume in a sentence

  • As for exhuming the files of the daily papers, one might as well try to resurrect Cheops.

  • His statement was, however, contradicted by one of the men who assisted him in exhuming the skeleton.

  • An organized party was engaged in exhuming old pottery and other domestic utensils at the time of our visit.

    Aztec Land | Maturin M. Ballou
  • Thomas Mathews tells us that Berkeley wished to hang it on a gibbet, but on exhuming his casket he found in it nothing but stones.

    Bacon's Rebellion, 1676 | Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker
  • He will forgive me for exhuming this early incident of his career.

    A Civil Servant in Burma | Herbert Thirkel White

British Dictionary definitions for exhume

exhume

/ (ɛksˈhjuːm) /


verb(tr)
  1. to dig up (something buried, esp a corpse); disinter

  2. to reveal; disclose; unearth: don't exhume that old argument

Origin of exhume

1
C18: from Medieval Latin exhumāre, from Latin ex- 1 + humāre to bury, from humus the ground

Derived forms of exhume

  • exhumation (ˌɛkshjʊˈmeɪʃən), noun
  • exhumer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012