excavate
verb
ex·ca·vate
ˈek-skə-ˌvāt 
excavated; excavating
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
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
According to Windsor police, the man admitted to excavating abalone from rocks along the Mendocino County coast near the town of Elk for personal consumption.
—
Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2025
Read More | 3,000-year-old ruins and artifacts found at massive gold mine in Egypt, photos show
Archaeologists excavating the Sukari gold mine in southeastern Egypt uncovered a 3,000-year-old mining camp.
—Stories By Real-Time News Team, With Ai Summarization, Miami Herald, 28 Feb. 2025
Only the Illinois State Museum, an institution that ProPublica has reported on in-depth, came close to repatriating as many, with the transfer of more than 1,320 remains excavated from a single site.
—Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 25 Feb. 2025
Finally, in 2023, an underwater recovery team excavated the crash site.
—Stephen Smith, CBS News, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for excavate
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Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2025
Read More | 3,000-year-old ruins and artifacts found at massive gold mine in Egypt, photos show
Archaeologists excavating the Sukari gold mine in southeastern Egypt uncovered a 3,000-year-old mining camp.
—Stories By Real-Time News Team, With Ai Summarization, Miami Herald, 28 Feb. 2025
Only the Illinois State Museum, an institution that ProPublica has reported on in-depth, came close to repatriating as many, with the transfer of more than 1,320 remains excavated from a single site.
—Mary Hudetz, ProPublica, 25 Feb. 2025
Finally, in 2023, an underwater recovery team excavated the crash site.
—Stephen Smith, CBS News, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for excavate
Cite this Entry
“Excavate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excavate. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
excavate
verb
ex·ca·vate
ˈek-skə-ˌvāt
excavated; excavating
1
: to hollow out : form a hole in
excavate the side of a hill
2
: to make by hollowing out
excavate a tunnel
3
: to dig out and remove
excavate sand
4
: to uncover by digging away covering earth
excavate an ancient city
excavator
noun
-ˌvāt-ər
Medical Definition
excavate
verb
ex·ca·vate
ˈek-skə-ˌvāt
excavated; excavating
: 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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