excavate
verb (used with object)
to make hollow by removing the inner part; make a hole or cavity in; form into a hollow, as by digging.
excavated
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past participleof excavate.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof excavate.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
excavateverb (used with object)to make hollow by removing the inner part; make a hole or cavity in; form into a hollow, as by digging.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The park was excavated as part of a 500-day national drive launched in March, touted as Vietnam's largest push to locate some of the hundreds of thousands missing since the war.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Although the quarry was discovered in 1992 and excavated through 2019, many of the fossils recovered there had never been formally described and remained largely unknown to science.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Time Team's Prof Carenza Lewis said they had found traces of square features where it is thought people were housed, which "haven't been excavated before, anywhere".
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Museum paleontologists excavated some 70% of Thomas’s fossilized skeleton in the early 2000s, making it one of the most complete T. rex specimens ever found.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Using this figure, Kirkby went back to the ancient cobs excavated from Tehuacan Valley and tried to estimate how much grain per acre they would have yielded.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
