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
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(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
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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:
The courses in Scotland’s Hebrides, largely untouched by modern technology and agronomy, allow players to explore golf’s roots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
Future experiments could extend this approach to more complicated quantum systems, allowing researchers to explore models of the Big Bang and the Big Crunch in greater detail.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
“For teamLab, through art, we seek to explore what perception is and what existence is,” said Toshiyuki Inoko, a founder of TeamLab, in a release announcing the exhibit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Independent councillor Paul McCusker warned the closure puts vulnerable people "at even greater risk" and he has lobbied the council to explore alternative locations.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
He blinked a slow blink, and when he opened his eyes, he seemed to be looking beyond us, to a land we couldn’t see...a new world to explore.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Alison Green, the advice maven behind Ask a Manager, explores what makes some employees so resistant to quitting a toxic job.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026
They are also important to spintronics, which explores ways to use the magnetic properties of electrons in electronic devices, and to research involving topological quantum effects.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
“This is not 2015,” said Fatima Abo Alasrar, a Yemen expert who writes at The Ideology Machine project, which explores Mideast propaganda and authoritarian governments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
A marriage story weighty enough to bear two fascinatingly complex couples, it explores a web of isolation and desire knotted with the divisions and woes of society today: class, labor, media.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
When Father Monaghan steps out of his car and explores the colony, he’s immediately horrified by what he sees.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Times Holiday Gift Guide, we selected, tested and explored gift ideas for everyone on your list.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2026
Recent work by Zeidan and his colleagues has explored two potential approaches: mindfulness meditation and the psychedelic compound psilocybin.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
They explored several possible environmental consequences, including sunlight being blocked by dust and ash and rising carbon dioxide levels associated with volcanic eruptions.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
Instacart also explored a sale in 2021, when its shares were trading at a significantly higher price and the company controlled more of the food delivery market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
She said he could ride two blocks away, but by the time it was dark, he had explored six blocks in each direction.
From "Forged by Fire" by Sharon M. Draper
In 2024, the company hired its first researcher to study “model welfare,” conducting experiments exploring the subjective experiences and potential consciousness of AI, and whether it requires moral consideration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
For still others, it means exploring how their families’ stories mirror those of today’s immigrants, and what those parallels say about defiance in the face of exclusion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
The team is now exploring which molecular approaches might be most successful to block the toxin.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
Earlier this month, the group of women spent a week exploring the north coast, visiting the Giant's Causeway, the Dark Hedges and Londonderry.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
It is the most passionate of Farmer’s books, exploring the complicated history of American policy toward Haiti.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
