discover
Americanverb (used with object)
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discovers,
present (3rd person singular)
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discovered,
past participle, past
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discovering
present participle
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to see, get knowledge of, learn of, find, or find out; gain sight or knowledge of (something previously unseen or unknown).
to discover America;
to discover electricity.
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to notice or realize.
I discovered I didn't have my credit card with me when I went to pay my bill.
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Archaic. to make known; reveal; disclose.
verb
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to be the first to find or find out about
Fleming discovered penicillin
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to learn about or encounter for the first time; realize
she discovered the pleasures of wine
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to find after study or search
I discovered a leak in the tank
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to reveal or make known
Usage
What are other ways to say discover? To discover something is to see, get knowledge of, or find it. How does discover differ from learn, ascertain, and detect? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Synonym Usage
Discover, invent, originate suggest bringing to light something previously unknown. To discover may be to find something that had previously existed but had hitherto been unknown: to discover a new electricity; it may also refer to devising a new use for something already known: to discover how to make synthetic rubber. To invent is to make or create something new, especially something ingeniously devised to perform mechanical operations: to invent a device for detecting radioactivity. To originate is to begin something new, especially new ideas, methods, etc.: to originate a political movement, the use of assembly-line techniques.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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discoverernoun
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prediscoververb (used with object)
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rediscoververb (used with object)
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discoverableadjective
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nondiscoverableadjective
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undiscoverableadjective
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undiscoveredadjective
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discoverablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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discoversimple
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discoverssimple
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have discoveredperfect
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has discoveredperfect
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am discoveringprogressive
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are discoveringprogressive
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is discoveringprogressive
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have been discoveringperfect progressive
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has been discoveringperfect progressive
Past
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discoveredsimple
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had discoveredperfect
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was discoveringprogressive
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were discoveringprogressive
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had been discoveringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of discover
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English discouere(n), descuvere(n), from Anglo-French discoverir, descovrir, from Old French descovrir, descuvrir, from Late Latin discooperīre “to disclose, expose”; see origin at dis- 1, cover
Explanation
If you discover something, you find it unexpectedly, like when you discover your favorite childhood stuffed animal in a box of old junk. When you discover something, it can be by surprise or the result of a search. You might discover the fact that your dad used to travel with the circus as a trapeze artist or discover a band none of your friends ever heard of. Scientists often discover new substances, stars, or organisms. The Latin root discooperire, "uncover," combines the prefix dis-, or "opposite of," with cooperire, "to cover up."
Vocabulary lists containing discover
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Beowulf vocabulary
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"Return to Titanic" and "Talking with Robert Ballard"
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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:
Doan Van Cong, 68, and his family spent years touring cemeteries and talking to witnesses to discover what happened to his uncle, who died in 1950, when he was in his early 20s.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Hincapie has suffered from muscular issues this term and now faces an anxious wait to discover whether he requires another spell on the sidelines.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
AI agents could significantly change how consumers discover brands, according to Kacy Kim, a marketing professor at Bryant University.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
These agents draw on the models to autonomously discover vulnerabilities and plan attack routes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
But if you could somehow put the two pieces back together, you would discover that your taped-together atom weighed less than it did originally.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
As Mona discovers, the stumbles are as important as the triumphs.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
In another video from last year, she cries when she discovers that $9,000 had been cut from her balance, so that she “only” owed $6,700.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Randy Marsh, meanwhile, discovers the same opportunity from the opposite direction.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
Equally shattering is a cue surging through a long scene bereft of dialogue, where Alex discovers a tampered-with wine bottle and realizes that he is married to a spy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
This Book is a new Telescope; it discovers what we could not see before; and the Spots in this Spiritual Moon, are Mountains.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
When scientists examined brain tissue collected after death from a subset of participants, they discovered a striking pattern.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026
The next day another fire was discovered at the entrance to Sir Keir's Kentish Town home, which he was renting out to his sister-in-law, Judith Alexander.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
The researchers discovered that people with more severe cognitive decline had lower levels of a protein called NRF2 inside their oligodendrocytes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026
In August, human remains, including a jawbone with teeth and dental fillings and rib bones, were discovered at Boulder Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
It’s better that I never got to see the look of disgust or hatred in your eyes when you discovered who I really was.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
Even after discovering the leaks, the military continued to use the vehicles until the end of the exercise due to a lack of alternatives and the soldiers deleted the videos, DN reported.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
A plot twist in the series premiere centers on Olivia discovering her former boss trained “Daisy,” an unauthorized AI companion chatbot created by S-Talk, by using her voice and personality without her knowledge or consent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Yet even with their widespread presence, scientists are still discovering basic facts about their biology, including how large they can grow and what determines their maximum size.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales in 2024, Star said discovering that part of the family's history had been "really extraordinary".
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
My mother was, for the most part, delighted with my brother and regarded him with the bemused curiosity of a brood hen discovering she has hatched a completely different species.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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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.
