excavate

verb

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ex·ca·vate | \ ˈek-skə-ˌvāt

excavated; excavating

Definition of excavate

transitive verb

1 : to form a cavity or hole in

2 : to form by hollowing out

3 : to dig out and remove

4 : to expose to view by or as if by digging away a covering excavate the remains of a temple

intransitive verb

: to make excavations

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More About excavate

Examples of excavate in a Sentence

They excavated an ancient city. It is the first site to be excavated in this area. They began excavating the backyard for their new pool. The excess dirt was carefully excavated.

Recent Examples on the Web Master Chief is supposed to be completely controllable, but starts feeling new emotions after grabbing a mysterious glowing object that the Covenant is trying to excavate. — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 30 Jan. 2022 Memories of trauma — buried deep within the body, locked in a casket of shame — are difficult to excavate. — Thr Staff, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Jan. 2022 In January, the cones began to crack, allowing the olingos to excavate the now-mature, rank-smelling seeds with their teeth and claws. — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2022 In 2016, Linda Shauvin pushed the DPAA to reconsider the decision not to excavate further. — Stephen Smith, CBS News, 24 Mar. 2022 After finding the dinosaur remains in 2014, Pfister took more than a year to excavate the bones with a couple of his colleagues. — Megan Marples, CNN, 20 Mar. 2022 Construction will be especially costly because the developers will have to excavate five stories of dirt at a cost of about $93 million, helping bring the overall price tag to $1.6 billion. — Roger Vincent Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 12 Nov. 2021 Researchers have asked the city of Tulsa to continue their research and excavate more areas to look for remains at Oaklawn Cemetery and other nearby areas where remains of victims may be found. — Joseph Pisani, WSJ, 5 Mar. 2022 After conferring with Smit and her advisor Jeroen van der Lubbe, During went out to Tanis to excavate fossil fish from the site. — Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Feb. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'excavate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.