explore
Americanverb (used with object)
-
explores,
present (3rd person singular)
-
explored,
past participle, past
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exploring
present participle
-
to traverse or range over (a region, area, etc.) for the purpose of discovery.
to explore the island.
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to look into closely; scrutinize; examine.
Let us explore the possibilities for improvement.
- Synonyms:
- survey, investigate, research, study, probe
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Surgery. to investigate into, especially mechanically, as with a probe.
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Obsolete. to search for; search out.
verb (used without object)
-
explores,
present (3rd person singular)
-
explored,
past participle, past
-
exploring
present participle
verb
-
(tr) to examine or investigate, esp systematically
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to travel to or into (unfamiliar or unknown regions), esp for organized scientific purposes
-
(tr) med to examine (an organ or part) for diagnostic purposes
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obsolete (tr) to search for or out
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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explorabilitynoun
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explorernoun
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reexploreverb
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explorableadjective
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unexplorableadjective
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unexploredadjective
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exploringlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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exploresimple
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exploressimple
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have exploredperfect
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has exploredperfect
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am exploringprogressive
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are exploringprogressive
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is exploringprogressive
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have been exploringperfect progressive
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has been exploringperfect progressive
Past
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exploredsimple
-
had exploredperfect
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was exploringprogressive
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were exploringprogressive
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had been exploringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of explore
First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin explōrāre “to search out, examine,” equivalent to ex- ex- 1 ( def. ) + plōrāre “to cry out,” probably originally with reference to hunting cries
Explanation
Explore is a verb that means "to travel in or through." You might explore an island, a European city, or the rooms of an unfamiliar house. The Latin root of explore is explorare, meaning "investigate or search out." When you explore a new place, you want to see interesting things and get to know its people. Whenever you delve into something, or investigate it, you explore it. You can even explore an interest, like when you explore African art, or explore an idea or tendency in order to understand it — you can explore your fear of snakes to try to get over it.
Vocabulary lists containing explore
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade 11)
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Words Middle Schoolers Should Use for Comparing and Contrasting Texts
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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.
See Examples For:
Cameras are rolling among shoppers and traders as local children explore unfamiliar foods for a new CBeebies series.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Our reporters explore how a network—including members of an exclusive Ottawa book club—is trying to pull off one of the most consequential geopolitical shifts in modern history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
He’s going off to college to explore and test himself on and off the field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Norwich City Council said it was continuing to explore a "range of humane and proportionate long-term measures to manage the pigeon population".
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Initially, children need to explore their voices to find out what they are capable of, and to start hearing that their voices do indeed have a range to them.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Historian Imogen Willetts explores four centuries of after-hours history in her new book “Up All Night,” proving L.A.’s 2000s party era was a serious cultural force.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
MarketWatch’s New American Playbook series explores how young people are navigating an increasingly expensive world.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga is a new two-part series that explores the individuals, institutions and organisations who financed Britain's trade of enslaved Africans.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
The new experiment explores a region where these two descriptions overlap.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
This book explores a holistic, artistic, and integrated approach to understanding the developmental connections between music and children.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
Netflix has explored bidding for the rights to the Emmy Awards in recent years, but the streamer was not able to come up with a deal that made economic sense.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
In my Sept. 4 column, “You’re Not Tough Enough to Earn These Huge Returns,” I explored whether holding leveraged ETFs for the long run is a good idea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Epigenetic therapies and drugs designed specifically to combat senescence are already being explored in oncology, and both areas are closely connected to biological aging.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
Another avenue being explored is the idea that Greenland, with its ice sheet and frigid turquoise waters, could host data centres, which require extensive cooling, to power artificial intelligence.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
One could trace the illusory properties of the Potomac’s waters all the way back to John Smith, who first explored the mouth of what the Algonquin Indians had named “Petomek,” meaning “trading place,” in 1608.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
She is at her best, and most incisive, when exploring the contingency of our assumptions that they go together.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
"Monotile patterns provide a platform for exploring optical phenomena that emerge from the interplay of symmetry, chirality, and aperiodicity."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
For cats exploring the kitchen, be mindful of your oven.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
The DP World Tour has said it has had a "high volume" of interest from LIV Golf players and is exploring ways to accommodate those who leave the breakaway league.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Instead, he mumbled something under his breath about creating a law to ban all exploring in his neighborhood, before sighing and finally heading up to join Duane.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
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.
