exhume
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to dig (something buried, especially a dead body) out of the earth; disinter.
-
to revive or restore after neglect or a period of forgetting; bring to light.
to exhume a literary reputation; to exhume old letters.
verb
-
to dig up (something buried, esp a corpse); disinter
-
to reveal; disclose; unearth
don't exhume that old argument
Other Word Forms
- exhumation noun
- exhumer noun
- unexhumed adjective
Etymology
Origin of exhume
1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin exhumāre, equivalent to Latin ex- ex- 1 + humāre to inter
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.
Breaking for health tests, Ruci stayed there until October 7, when judicial authorities agreed to exhume his son's body for toxicology tests.
From Barron's • Oct. 23, 2025
Yet commonalities remain: One remedy for vampirism, found on several continents, was to exhume the undead corpse and to drink what was left of its blood.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025
“I watch a lot of true crime, and they exhume bodies all the time. It’s not unusual,” she blithely says.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2024
Wade’s family members and attorneys won the right to exhume his body Monday, but they did not get to see the exhumation because it took place hours before county officials said it would.
From Washington Times • Nov. 16, 2023
Shady could get almost nothing to exhume an almost- unknown pile of rocks on the coast.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
