Library / English Dictionary

DISCOVER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally

Example:

I see that you have been promoted

Synonyms:

discover; find out; get a line; get wind; get word; hear; learn; pick up; see

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Verb group:

find; see; witness (perceive or be contemporaneous with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "discover"):

get the goods (discover some bad or hidden information about)

wise up (get wise to)

catch; trip up (detect a blunder or misstep)

ascertain (learn or discover with certainty)

discover; find (make a discovery)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They discover that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

discovery (the act of discovering something)

discovery (a productive insight)

discovery (something that is discovered)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Identify as in botany or biology, for example

Synonyms:

describe; discover; distinguish; identify; key; key out; name

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

"Discover" entails doing...:

assort; class; classify; separate; sort; sort out (arrange or order by classes or categories)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make a discovery

Example:

The story is false, so far as I can discover

Synonyms:

discover; find

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "discover" is one way to...):

discover; find out; get a line; get wind; get word; hear; learn; pick up; see (get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally)

Verb group:

discover; find (make a discovery, make a new finding)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "discover"):

rake up (bring to light)

ferret; ferret out (search and discover through persistent investigation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

discovery (the act of discovering something)

discovery (a productive insight)

discovery (something that is discovered)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret

Example:

The newspaper uncovered the President's illegal dealings

Synonyms:

break; bring out; disclose; discover; divulge; expose; give away; let on; let out; reveal; uncover; unwrap

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "discover" is one way to...):

tell (let something be known)

Cause:

break; get around; get out (be released or become known; of news)

Verb group:

break; get around; get out (be released or become known; of news)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "discover"):

reveal (disclose directly or through prophets)

babble; babble out; blab; blab out; let the cat out of the bag; peach; sing; spill the beans; talk; tattle (divulge confidential information or secrets)

leak (tell anonymously)

confide (reveal in private; tell confidentially)

betray; bewray (reveal unintentionally)

spring (produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly)

come out; come out of the closet; out (to state openly and publicly one's homosexuality)

out (reveal (something) about somebody's identity or lifestyle)

blow (cause to be revealed and jeopardized)

muckrake (explore and expose misconduct and scandals concerning public figures)

blackwash (bring (information) out of concealment)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

discovery (something that is discovered)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Make a discovery, make a new finding

Example:

Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle

Synonyms:

discover; find

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "discover" is one way to...):

conceive; conceptualise; conceptualize; gestate (have the idea for)

Verb group:

detect; discover; find; notice; observe (discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of)

ascertain; determine; find; find out (establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study)

discover; find (make a discovery)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

discovery (something that is discovered)

discovery (a productive insight)

discovery (the act of discovering something)

discoverer (someone who is the first to think of or make something)

Sense 6

Meaning:

See for the first time; make a discovery

Example:

Who discovered the North Pole?

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

"Discover" entails doing...:

comprehend; perceive (to become aware of through the senses)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "discover"):

rediscover (discover again)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

discovery (the act of discovering something)

discovery (a productive insight)

discovery (something that is discovered)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of

Example:

We found traces of lead in the paint

Synonyms:

detect; discover; find; notice; observe

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "discover" is one way to...):

sight; spy (catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes)

Verb group:

discover; find (make a discovery, make a new finding)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "discover"):

catch out; find out (trap; especially in an error or in a reprehensible act)

sense (detect some circumstance or entity automatically)

instantiate (find an instance of (a word or particular usage of a word))

trace (discover traces of)

see (observe as if with an eye)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

discoverer (someone who is the first to observe something)

discovery (the act of discovering something)

discovery (a productive insight)

discovery (something that is discovered)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Find unexpectedly

Example:

The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake

Synonyms:

attain; chance on; chance upon; come across; come upon; discover; fall upon; happen upon; light upon; strike

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "discover" is one way to...):

find; regain (come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

discovery (the act of discovering something)

discovery (something that is discovered)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Our people, who discovered the cause of my mirth, bore me company in laughing, at which the old fellow was fool enough to be angry and out of countenance.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The seven-spotted ladybird is so easy to see that if every predator had to eat one before they discovered its foul taste, it would have struggled to survive and reproduce.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

A 6 kD polypeptide growth factor initially discovered in mouse submaxillary glands.

(Epidermal growth factor, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

I'm sure there is something on her mind, and I want you to discover what it is.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A company licensed to discover, develop, market and distribute drugs.

(Drug Company, NCI Thesaurus)

Then he discovered Henley and wrote a series of sea-poems on the model of "Hospital Sketches."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It is usually discovered as an incidental finding.

(Fallopian Tube Adenomatoid Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

The recently discovered endogenous GH-releasing peptide, called ghrelin, also stimulates GH release.

(Food Intake and Energy Homeostasis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

I was fortunate enough to discover that there was a deposit of fuller’s-earth in one of my fields.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The capability of being noticed, identified or discovered.

(Detectable, NCI Thesaurus)