excavation
Americannoun
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a hole or cavity made by excavating.
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the act of excavating.
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an area in which excavating has been done or is in progress, as an archaeological site.
Synonym Usage
See hole.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of excavation
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin excavātiōn- (stem of excavātiō ) “a hollowing.” See excavate, -ion
Explanation
Excavation is the act or process of digging, especially when something specific is being removed from the ground. Archaeologists use excavation to find artifacts and fossils. There are many types of excavation, but they all involve digging holes in the earth. Mining for coal, gold, or diamonds all require excavation, and before buildings and houses can be built, there is often some excavation that's done before a foundation can be poured. The Latin source of excavation is excavationem, "a hollowing out," from excavare, "to hollow out," with its roots of ex-, "out," and cavare, "to hollow."
Vocabulary lists containing excavation
The Alchemist
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Written in Bone
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Island of the Blue Dolphins
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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.
On the day Al-Zaharnah monitored the excavation, the crews were working at a painfully slow pace, peeling back the pancaked layers of the building one by one.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 9, 2026
Students either catalog recovered artifacts, most of which are ceramics, or "broken pots," as Anderson described them, or supervise excavation trenches.
From Science Daily • Jun. 25, 2026
The pits that held these posts were not the only discovery during the excavation, surrounding them were dozens of other holes containing artefacts belonging to the prehistoric people of Bulford village.
From BBC • Jun. 17, 2026
Researchers also collected two sediment cores near the excavation area and analyzed them for pollen and charcoal.
From Science Daily • Jun. 11, 2026
For most involved in the excavation, the presence and importance of the wooden tags was unexpected.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
