excavate
to make hollow by removing the inner part; make a hole or cavity in; form into a hollow, as by digging: The ground was excavated for a foundation.
to make (a hole, tunnel, etc.) by removing material.
to dig or scoop out (earth, sand, etc.).
to expose or lay bare by or as if by digging; unearth: to excavate an ancient city.
Origin of excavate
1Other words from excavate
- re·ex·ca·vate, verb (used with object), re·ex·ca·vat·ed, re·ex·ca·vat·ing.
- un·ex·ca·vat·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use excavate in a sentence
Greece has high hopes that the giant tomb now being excavated at Amphipolis contains one of these ancient Macedonian leaders.
Amphipolis Tomb Yields Amazing Finds But Mysteries Linger | James Romm | October 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHis cousin died in 2009 when an illegally excavated archaeological site collapsed on top of him.
At the edge of an already excavated grave a single bullet was fired into the back of her head and she fell lifeless into the hole.
She seemed unusually cheerful for someone whose backyard was about to be lightly excavated.
This 3,000-year-old language was discovered on clay tablets excavated in 1900 on the island of Crete.
Who Actually Cracked Linear B, the Ancient Code of the Mysterious Knossos Labyrinth? | Malcolm Jones | May 17, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Only a comparatively small portion has been excavated, but the city enclosed by the wall covered nearly one square mile.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car | Thomas D. MurphyAn endless forest, the impenetrable earth; the one to be removed, and the other to be excavated.
The following engraving, after a sketch by Maitland, shows a gallery wider and more rudely excavated.
The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry WithrowThese are chambers excavated in the tufa on either side of the galleries, with which they communicate by doors, as seen in Fig. 4.
The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry WithrowIt has completely buried the ancient roads, except where excavated, as shown in the engraving.
The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry Withrow
British Dictionary definitions for excavate
/ (ˈɛkskəˌveɪt) /
to remove (soil, earth, etc) by digging; dig out
to make (a hole, cavity, or tunnel) in (solid matter) by hollowing or removing the centre or inner part: to excavate a tooth
to unearth (buried objects) methodically in an attempt to discover information about the past
Origin of excavate
1Derived forms of excavate
- excavation, 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
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