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
Words Nearby excavate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use excavate in a sentence
The unique ability of humans to pry open the Earth and excavate the mass carbon graves of millions of years ago has created an energy surplus unheard of in the billions of years prior.
Dawn of the Heliocene - Issue 90: Something Green | Summer Praetorius | September 16, 2020 | NautilusCrucially, each flare would excavate some protons from the neutron star’s surface.
Neutrinos could reveal how fast radio bursts are launched | Lisa Grossman | September 16, 2020 | Science NewsFive council circles have been found among 22 ancestral Wichita sites excavated along an eight-kilometer stretch of the Little Arkansas and Smoky Hill rivers, around 230 kilometers north of the newly surveyed site.
Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture | Bruce Bower | September 10, 2020 | Science NewsMakers of the earthwork may have removed soil from the pits to construct mounds inside its borders, as has been observed at excavated council circles in the region.
Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture | Bruce Bower | September 10, 2020 | Science NewsPrevious research has been done on Stonehenge’s acoustics, but was incomplete, says archaeologist Timothy Darvill of Bournemouth University in England who has excavated at Stonehenge but did not participate in the new research.
Stonehenge enhanced sounds like voices or music for people inside the monument | Bruce Bower | August 31, 2020 | Science News
There have been attempts to excavate the remains, and many have been removed over the past half-decade.
In the years since, Alford has worked hard to excavate what she really feels.
JFK’s Intern-Mistress Mimi Alford Confesses, ‘I Did Love Him’ | Leslie Bennetts | February 10, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTHowever, de-miners crawling on their bellies to identify, excavate, and destroy mines remain the default modus operandi.
To excavate a hole under either of the four would have required more time than we believed we had to spare.
A Virginia Scout | Hugh PendexterI looked among the dead, to see if I could find any iron implement with which to excavate the wall, or to break the chains.
Rule of the Monk | Giuseppe GaribaldiThen the birds are able to obtain a foothold and to excavate with the bill, while clinging to the edge of the hole.
A Bird Calendar for Northern India | Douglas DewarBefore the locks could be built it became necessary to excavate down to bed rock.
The Panama Canal | Frederic Jennings HaskinThis has operated to excavate numerous and extensive caves into the coast.
Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820 | Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
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
Browse