Excavate: meaning, example and synonyms
Excavatev. To dig out and remove earth in order to uncover buried objects or remains.
Example
When the archaeologists excavated the hillside, they uncovered not one settlement but three, each built on the collapsed ruins of the one below it.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Synonyms
- dig, unearth, uncover, exhume
- Antonyms
- bury, fill, inter, cover
- Memory tip
- ex (out) + cavus (hollow): hollow out the ground.
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Check yourself: Excavate in context
Before the highway could be built, the state hired archaeologists to ______ the burial mound, carefully recording every artifact before the bulldozers arrived.
Answer: excavate. Archaeologists digging up a mound and recording its artifacts excavate it. festoon (decorate with garlands), nudge (push gently) and abut (border on) don't fit this context.
Engineers had to ______ tons of rock and clay to create the tunnel, hauling the spoil out in carts along temporary rails.
Answer: excavate. Digging out rock and clay to make a tunnel is to excavate it. festoon (decorate with garlands), rejuvenate (make youthful again) and abut (border on) don't fit this context.