delve

American  

[delv] / dɛlv /

verb (used without object)

• delves,
  present (3rd person singular)
• delved,
  past participle,  past
• delving
  present participle

1. to carry on intensive and thorough research for data, information, or the like; investigate.

   to delve into the issue of prison reform.

   Synonyms:

   explore, examine, probe, inquire, research

2. Archaic. to dig, as with a spade.

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verb (used with object)

• delves,
  present (3rd person singular)
• delved,
  past participle,  past
• delving
  present participle

1. Archaic. to dig; excavate.

delve British  

/ dɛlv /

verb

1. to inquire or research deeply or intensively (for information, etc)

   he delved in the Bible for quotations

2. to search or rummage (in a drawer, the pockets, etc)

3. (esp of an animal) to dig or burrow deeply (into the ground, etc)

4. archaic (also tr) to dig or turn up (earth, a garden, etc), as with a spade

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• delver
  noun
• undelved
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• delving
  present
• delved
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• delve
  simple
• delves
  simple
• have delved
  perfect
• has delved
  perfect
• am delving
  progressive
• are delving
  progressive
• is delving
  progressive
• have been delving
  perfect progressive
• has been delving
  perfect progressive

Past

• delved
  simple
• had delved
  perfect
• was delving
  progressive
• were delving
  progressive
• had been delving
  perfect progressive

Future

• will delve
  simple
• will have delved
  perfect
• will be delving
  progressive
• will have been delving
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of delve

First recorded before 900; Middle English delven, Old English delfan; cognate with Dutch delven, Old High German telban

Explanation

The verb delve means to dig into, loosen, or investigate. She delved into her family's history and discovered an inventor, a checkers champion, and a circus equestrian in her ancestry. Delve has a literal meaning of to dig into the earth ("to delve the soil," as in preparing a garden, for example), but this sense is rare now. The verb is most often used in the more figurative sense — like to delve into a problem or into someone's personal life.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

delve delves delved delving

Merseyside Police said an initial delve into his finances showed a high level of personal debt and multiple missed payments on the vehicle's finance.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

A family meeting doesn’t need to delve into numbers.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

You go punk on “Tal Vez Yo Soy El Problema” and delve into progressive jazz on “Vi Un Poema En Su Locura.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

"We are planning on further extending the experimental methods to delve deeper into different systems on our planet in different contexts, the possibilities are, quite literally, out of this world," says Noto.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026

While the data and video on the Third Gate was copying over to my flash drive, I continued to delve deeper into the Sixer database.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Venegas, who De Los interviewed last month, wrote a memoir alongside this album, which delves into her Tijuana heritage with Mexican collaborators like Bronco, is what Martinez calls “a chef’s kiss.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

The review delves into various health conditions linked to tea consumption.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 9, 2026

Latifi’s book delves into the world of family vlogging, the vein of internet fame centered around the daily lives of parents and their kids.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

“Abstract Body” delves into the corseted, bustled shapes women were subjected to in centuries past, while “Reclaimed Body” acknowledges wild new imperatives that reject inherited standards and mock the idea of one body type.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026

"Time that doth transfix the flourish set on youth, And delves the parallels in Beauty's brow."

From Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Girl Sister of that "Idle Fellow." by Wren, Jenny

As Amicus delved into popular constitutionalism—the process by which ordinary people shape constitutional meaning—we came across Lyle Cherneff’s work on a largely forgotten American story that captures the concept in action.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

Local media have delved into his past - he had received written reprimands in El Paso, according to documents obtained by the Arizona Republic.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

Greenspan started a consulting firm where he delved into economic and manufacturing data, a habit that would become the trademark -- he was known for poring over statistics in his bathtub.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

Around that time, Chambers fully delved into pursuing mastery of an art form buried under a century.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026

The left eye delved narrowly into the past while the right gazed wide and affrighted into a future of blackness, error, and ruin.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Ms. Aviv also uses one woman’s experience as a way of delving into the bruising trade-offs of Filipino women who work as nannies overseas so that their own children, motherless at home, have spending money.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

“I took care of mom for 20 years before her dementia started,” she said, delving into some of the long history of their mother’s manic-depressive behavior.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

"Is the iPhone Birth Control?" asked a paper published Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, delving into why US fertility rates have fallen by 22 percent since 2007.

From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026

Before delving deeper into the issues for the permanent residents, let’s examine the effect of the large-scale data centers being built and proposed in Nevada, and more generally coast to coast.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026

In his earnestness, Dr. Luzan kept delving further into my psyche, plumbing the depths.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

Related Words

• burrow
• inquire