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excavate

[eks-kuh-vayt] / ˈɛks kəˌveɪt /


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:

My work is really focused on how we excavate and investigate those tools.

From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026

But the writers wanted to go beyond Aemond’s surface, to “a different place and excavate that trauma and vulnerability.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026

His best work tunneled into life’s darkest spaces to excavate ideas about our fears and obsessions, often reflected through dazzling practical effects that matched the naturalism of his greatest feature: a singularly expressive, malleable face.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026

They used handheld shovels to excavate blocks of salt, which were processed locally before being shipped around the country.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026

His previous work included helping excavate a land site at Gordion, Turkey, which, in the eighth century BCE, had been the capital of King Midas’s fabled golden empire.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

In a breezy, sun-soaked 90 minutes, Romvari excavates a lifetime of knotted, intergenerational trauma — a phrase that almost feels too heavy and too burdened by cryptic implications, given how this movie explores it.

From Salon ● May 25, 2026

Translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney, Ms. Rivera Garza’s book is a fusion of fiction and nonfiction that excavates both national and family history.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026

His team excavates the rubble with care, aware that they are searching for fragments of broken humanity.

From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2025

Like 20th Century Fox’s “Hidden Figures,” and HBO’s “Something the Lord Made,” “The Six Triple Eight” excavates a thrilling story that has been long buried, in part by the prejudice of its time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2024

This excavates a perfectly cylindrical tunnel, upon the sides of which are exposed the stellar structure of the coral.

From My Tropic Isle by E. J. (Edmund James) Banfield

Also on view are some small earthenware items excavated during the decades-long French archaeological mission in Iran’s ancient Susa.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2026

I am particularly excited by the wonderful Roman brooches that have recently been excavated at Mancot.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

Capitalizing on the wartime chaos of the 1940s, Bardo excavated tomb after tomb.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

The park was excavated as part of a 500-day national drive launched in March, touted as Vietnam's largest push to locate some of the hundreds of thousands missing since the war.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

She resumed digging, and presently she excavated the package— square, wrapped in thick brown paper and tied with a strong cord.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

Work crews were excavating in the adjacent construction site, the New York City Department of Buildings said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026

Paleontologists have been excavating this material for nearly two centuries.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

Face our fear and root it out, even if it means excavating the hideous rot of actual history?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Nepal rescuers are still excavating hydropower tunnels swamped by freezing mud, with hundreds of workers among the missing.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

For archaeologists and all others who regarded the real value of excavating shipwrecks to be something more than monetary reward, the Shinan ship was also a treasure ship.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler


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