excavator
Americannoun
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excavators
plural
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a person or thing that excavates.
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a power-driven machine for digging, moving, or transporting loose gravel, sand, or soil.
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a sharp, spoonlike instrument used for scraping out diseased tissue, as in dentistry.
noun
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a powered machine for digging earth, gravel, sand, etc, esp a caterpillar tractor so equipped
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any person, animal, or thing that excavates
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of excavator
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.
See Examples For:
Nearby a large excavator slams its shovel into another building's remains.
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
In the meantime, Interlune is testing an autonomous excavator and building a research factory in Texas.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 31, 2026
“Gentry Engineering and Gentry were aware of the danger of a rock strike by the excavator and failed to take action to prevent a fire,” the lawsuit alleges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
"The noise was very loud. When we came out, we saw the excavator."
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
It had left a trail of destruction wider than a tunnel excavator.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
Two excavators were working to dig more graves in the light brown earth.
From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026
In the most recent efforts, Caltrans said, it used drones to help survey the slopes and remotely operated bulldozers and excavators to reduce risks to workers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
Bedrock Robotics Chief Executive Boris Sofman visited the site last year, looking for land to test the company’s autonomous construction machinery, including excavators to dig ditches without human control.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Late last week, hopes had been high that the whale might move to deeper waters after excavators dug a channel enabling him to swim off.
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2026
After she goes, I turn on some kids’ songs about garbage trucks and excavators to block out the music from down the hall.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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.
