dis ‧ cov ‧ er S2 W1 /dɪsˈkʌvə $ -ər/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ discoverer , ↑ discovery ; verb : ↑ discover ]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: descovrir , from Late Latin discooperire 'to uncover' ]
1 . to find someone or something, either by accident or because you were looking for them:
The body was discovered in a field.
Forest Service crews often discover campfires that have not been put out completely.
2 . to find out something that you did not know about before:
The exercises let students discover math concepts on their own.
discover (that)
She discovered that she was pregnant.
discover who/what/how etc
His friends were shocked to discover how ill he was.
3 . if someone discovers a new place, fact, substance etc, they are the first person to find it or know that it exists:
The Curies are best known for discovering radium.
4 . to notice or try something for the first time and start to enjoy it:
At fourteen, Louise discovered boys.
5 . to notice someone who is very good at something and help them to become successful and well-known:
a band that’s waiting to be discovered
—discoverer noun [countable]
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THESAURUS
▪ find to get or see something that you have been searching for:
Have you found your passport yet?
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Police later found the car abandoned in a wood.
▪ discover to find something that was hidden or that people did not know about before:
A second bomb has been discovered in south London.
▪ locate formal to find the exact position of something:
The airline are still trying to locate my luggage.
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Online maps make it easy to locate almost any place in the world.
▪ come across something to find something unexpectedly when you are not looking for it:
I came across some old letters from my father in my drawer.
▪ stumble on/across something to find something unexpectedly, especially something very important:
They may have stumbled across some vital evidence.
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Completely by chance we had stumbled on the biggest hit of the year.
▪ trace to find someone or something that has disappeared, especially by a careful process of collecting information:
She had given up all hope of tracing her missing daughter.
▪ track somebody/something down to find someone or something that is difficult to find by searching in different places:
I’ve been trying to track down a book that’s out of print.
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The police managed to track down the killer.
▪ unearth to find something that has been hidden or lost for a long time, by digging or searching for it:
In 1796, a carved stone was unearthed near the burial mound.