excavate

[eks-kuh-veyt]

verb (used with object)

excavated, excavating 

1. 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.

2. to make (a hole, tunnel, etc.) by removing material.

3. to dig or scoop out (earth, sand, etc.).

4. to expose or lay bare by or as if by digging; unearth.

   to excavate an ancient city.

excavate

/ ˈɛkskəˌveɪt /

verb

1. to remove (soil, earth, etc) by digging; dig out

2. to make (a hole, cavity, or tunnel) in (solid matter) by hollowing or removing the centre or inner part

   to excavate a tooth

3. to unearth (buried objects) methodically in an attempt to discover information about the past

Other Word Forms

• reexcavate verb (used with object)
• unexcavated adjective
• excavation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of excavate¹

1590–1600; < Latin excavātus (past participle of excavāre to hollow out), equivalent to ex- ex- ¹ + cav ( um ) hollow, cave + -ātus -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of excavate¹

C16: from Latin excavāre, from cavāre to make hollow, from cavus hollow

Example Sentences

But if Mr. Serrano isn’t always successful in excavating the past, he is all over the present.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He was certain that a shipwreck could be excavated with the same scientific care and precision as archaeologists working on land.

Read more on Literature

Paul White usually excavates live electricity and utility cables but on this job the former Royal Marine needed to get his head around the anatomy of a whale.

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In the small southeast QLD town of Murgon, scientists have spent decades excavating what appears to be an ordinary clay pit in a local grazier's backyard.

Read more on Science Daily

The government puts out regular data on everything from exports of excavating machinery to sales at shoe stores.

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Related Words

• scrape 
• shovel 
• uncover 
• unearth