excavate
verb
ex·ca·vate
| \ ˈek-skə-ˌvāt
\
\
excavated;
excavating
Definition of excavate
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
: to make excavations
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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.
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Recent Examples on the Web
Archaeologist Loren Davis, a professor at Oregon State University in Corvallis and lead author of the Science report, first excavated at Cooper's Ferry in the 1997 as part of his PhD dissertation. — Megan Gannon, National Geographic, "15,000-year-old Idaho archaeology site now among America’s oldest," 29 Aug. 2019 With the assistance of Tuscaloosa County Road and Bridge Department, investigators excavated a large area and located a body at the bottom of the well. — Carol Robinson | Crobinson@al.com, al, "3rd suspect charged with murder, corpse abuse in slaying of Willoe Watkins," 30 July 2019 Using elongated screwdrivers and pickaxes, Duran and Kjelland excavated the skull. — Eduardo Medina, SFChronicle.com, "UC Merced student finds 65 million-year-old Triceratops skull," 26 July 2019 Over the years, Tap Pilam elders have re-interned human remains excavated at the missions and a downtown Catholic hospital developed atop the city’s first Catholic cemetery. — Elaine Ayala, ExpressNews.com, "Alamo plan excluding lineal descendants to its own detriment," 18 July 2019 Pirro Ligorio, Tivoli's architect, was conveniently also excavating Hadrian's Villa at the same time. — Jayme Deerwester, USA TODAY, "Tivoli: Why this Italian city is still Rome's great escape, 2,000 years later," 16 July 2019 To better understand the Nasca birds, Eda and his colleagues plan to compare the Nasca images with birds drawn and painted on Nasca pottery from the same period, as well as bird remains excavated at the ruins of Nasca settlements. — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, "New study takes a bird’s-eye view of the Nasca Lines," 20 June 2019 Greta Gerwig proved her aptitude for excavating the mind of a teenage girl with 2017's nouveau cult favorite Lady Bird. — Julie Kosin, Harper's BAZAAR, "The Little Women Trailer Is a Nostalgic Punch to the Gut," 13 Aug. 2019 Singer/frontman John Darnielle has made a career out of excavating the painful, sad and funny truth about young people trying to make sense of their lives in America. — John Adamian, courant.com, "The Mountain Goats, excavating life in America with candor, wisdom, coming to College Street," 5 Aug. 2019These 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.
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More Definitions for excavate
excavate
verb
English Language Learners Definition of excavate
: to uncover (something) by digging away and removing the earth that covers it
: to dig a large hole in (something)
: to form (a hole, tunnel, etc.) by digging
See the full definition for excavate in the English Language Learners Dictionary
excavate
verb
ex·ca·vate
| \ ˈek-skə-ˌvāt
\
\
excavated;
excavating
Kids Definition of excavate
1
: to expose to view by digging away a covering
They've excavated an ancient city.
2
: to hollow out : form a hole in
Workers excavated the side of a hill.
3
: to make by hollowing out
We must excavate a tunnel.
4
: to dig out and remove
Miners excavate diamonds.
excavate
verb
ex·ca·vate
| \ ˈek-skə-ˌvāt
\
\
excavated;
excavating
Medical Definition of excavate
: to form a cavity or hole in
an excavated wisdom tooth
: to make excavations or become hollowed out
an area of infarction in soft tissue often tends to excavate
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