Meaning & use
excavate
To dig into the ground to expose or remove something, often as part of construction or archaeology.
See it in a sentence
Archaeologists spent months excavating the ancient temple buried beneath the desert sand.
Workers excavated the site to lay the foundation for the new office building.
A note on using this word
Excavate is used both for careful archaeological digging and for large-scale construction work with heavy machinery.
Words with a similar meaning
dig upunearth
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
buryfill in
Make it your own
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