exploration
Americannoun
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explorations
plural
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an act or instance of exploring or investigating; examination.
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the investigation of unknown regions.
noun
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the act or process of exploring
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med examination of an organ or part for diagnostic purposes
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an organized trip into unfamiliar regions, esp for scientific purposes; expedition
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of exploration
First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin explōrātiōn-, stem of explōrātiō “examination,” from explōrāt(us) “searched out, examined” (past participle of explōrāre “to search out, examine”; see explore) + -iō -ion
Explanation
An exploration is a trip, but it's more than just a vacation — it's going somewhere to examine and discover new things. Exploration is what you do when you want to learn more about what's out there in the big wide world. Guys like Christopher Columbus were experts in exploration. Some astronauts devote their lives to the exploration of space, looking for new planets. But you don't have to go any farther than your local library to do your own exploration — when you study or research something, you could say you're doing an exploration of it.
Vocabulary lists containing exploration
Western Europe - Introductory
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Western Europe - Middle School and High School
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The Renaissance and Early Modern European History - Introductory
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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:
Its proposals include a pooled fund, technical assistance and shared promotion, alongside exploration of a new county-level arts funding mechanism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
That spacecraft became the first successful planetary science mission, marking a major milestone in the exploration of other worlds.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
They said the British energy giant should be held responsible because of its past and current greenhouse gas emissions associated with exploration, production and sale of fossil fuels.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
To unleash our energy, to rebuild our factories, to return our astronauts to the moon and launch a new age of exploration in space.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
The frame was built in the form of six-and-a-half-foot squares so that exploration of the site could take place square by square.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
Lee says Carl Jung’s explorations of a person’s darker urges, hidden side and projection directly influenced the writing, especially when confronting those aspects in Lee himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Users create maps, fictional diary entries, survival guides, found-footage videos and first-person explorations that collectively expand the world.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
The key is to regularly engage in more than purely intellectual explorations of economic policy and investment strategy.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
The explorations in “Kafkaesque” are ranging and free-associative.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
The sailors all took the greatest delight in watching the curious little birds at their explorations.
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
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.
