discover
Usage
What are other ways to say discover?
The verb discover is used with objective clauses as a synonym of learn in order to suggest that the new information acquired is surprising to the learner: I discovered that she had been married before. To learn is to add to one's knowledge or information: to learn a language. To ascertain is to verify facts by inquiry or analysis: to ascertain the truth about an event. To detect implies becoming aware of something that had been obscure, secret, or concealed: to detect a flaw in reasoning.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Have you ever had a wonderful friend, but then gone on vacation with them only to discover that you needed space?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Rebecca leads us on a journey to discover what’s behind the hype.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2026
Though Nam Ji-ah looks like Ah-eum, Lee does not believe it is her but together they try to discover what happened to her parents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Asked by his defence barrister if he wanted teachers to discover it, he said "no".
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Knowing that they might never discover what she had given them.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
When Lok discovers simile, it is, poignantly, to describe his awareness that the newcomers will sweep through his world “like a fire in the forest.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
If a future astrobiology mission discovers life in Venus' clouds, one possible explanation is that it originally came from Earth.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
On a reconnaissance mission, Jessie climbs to the roof and discovers the root of this strange standoffishness: Every child, in every window, has their face glued to a screen.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026
His condition is both a superpower and a vulnerability, as we see when he discovers a dangerous new skill, cracking safes, with his unique ability to hear the tumblers of the lock moving internally.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Inside a warped cabinet drawer, miraculously, he discovers a zinc-carbon eleven-volt battery with a black cat printed on the side.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
On the Isle of Wight, campfire remains where discovered at the site a fire which burned the equivalent size of almost 13 football pitches and lasted almost five days.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
America’s first permanent federal bankruptcy law, enacted in 1898, was designed for businesses, but individuals discovered its benefits, as Mary Eschelbach Hansen and Bradley A. Hansen explain in “Bankrupt in America.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
The newly discovered buoyancy system could also contribute to efforts to develop smart materials made with resilin.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
The search was widened to "the whole city" after the vehicle was discovered abandoned in the vast Tiergarten park.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
I avoided the eyes of the guards along the route, guilty as a well-trained dog discovered on the living room sofa.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
The Spain winger's three-year-old brother Keyne has been another viral sensation this summer, discovering golf to be an incredibly frustrating sport, external, among other things.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The risks include the possibility of deportation, or that an employer terminates a worker after discovering they don’t have valid work authorization.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Van der Velden says that reviewing different AI-generated versions of a scene can sometimes feel like discovering an unexpectedly inspired take from a human actor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
His portrayal of a paleontologist suddenly discovering that the creatures he’s studied in rock and bone have come to life is just masterful.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
After discovering that none of them matched the date, she restarted the tribute video of Coach Washington.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
Vocabulary lists containing discover
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Beowulf vocabulary
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"Return to Titanic" and "Talking with Robert Ballard"
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