exhume

[ig-zoom, -zyoom, eks-hyoom]

verb (used with object)

exhumed, exhuming 

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.

exhume

/ ɛksˈhjuːm, ˌɛkshjʊˈmeɪʃən /

verb

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

2. to reveal; disclose; unearth

   don't exhume that old argument

Other Word Forms

• exhumation noun
• exhumer noun
• unexhumed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of exhume¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of exhume¹

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

Example Sentences

So far, 32 bodies have been exhumed and more than 70 body parts found scattered in the forest.

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Nine bodies have been exhumed from fresh graves suspected to be linked to Kenya's notorious starvation cult.

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One pathologist had traced a "highly toxic substance", cyhalothrin, on both the body's remains and the soil where his body was exhumed.

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The government plans to expropriate 117 hectares of the 4,829-hectare site, including buildings where torture took place, and sites where victims' bodies were exhumed, then burnt and their ashes deposited.

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Visitors have left little shoes, cuddly toys and laminated poems to commemorate those whose remains will be exhumed.

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Related Words

• disclose 
• resurrect 
• unearth