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:
Che, the former excavator operator, said he was glad his first harvest came through last year, and that he hopes to break even soon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
At the Upper Trishuli 3A site, rescuers broke through into the upper part of a mud-swamped tunnel, pumping air inside, then using drilling and excavator machines to dig down.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
“This is the third day we’ve done this,” Al-Zaharnah said, standing beside the excavator.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
"I got involved in one where an excavator on the back of a lorry hit a precast concrete bridge on the A50 in Stoke," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
It had left a trail of destruction wider than a tunnel excavator.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
The Hunterian said excavators in the 19th century occasionally swapped over remains from different coffins, with better preserved specimens placed in the most intact or ornate sarcophagi.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
Since July, hundreds of experts and soldiers have been working to unearth layers of remains at the park, aided by bulldozers, excavators and water pumps but often sifting through the mud by hand.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Authorities have been trying to release the water for the past three days using excavators but have not been very successful, locals told the BBC.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
In 2024, Attanasio’s construction team was accused of using excavators to dig up sand from Broad Beach and carry it back to his property as part of a beachfront development.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
Although the original excavators remain convinced, a team of archaeologists who were not involved in the excavation but receptive to pre-Clovis claims recently visited the site and came away unconvinced.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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