Discover

English

Verb

Discover (third-person singular simple present Discovers, present participle Discovering, simple past and past participle Discovered)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To remove the cover from; to uncover (a head, building etc.).
2. (transitive, now rare) To expose, uncover.

   The gust of wind discovered a bone in the sand.

3. (transitive, chess) To create by moving a piece out of another piece's line of attack.

   This move discovers an attack on a vital pawn.

4. (transitive, archaic) To reveal (information); to divulge, make known.

   I discovered my plans to the rest of the team.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To reconnoitre, explore (an area).
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:

     they seyde the same, and were aggreed that Sir Clegis, Sir Claryon, and Sir Clement the noble, that they sholde dyscover the woodys, bothe the dalys and the downys.

6. To find something for the first time.

   Turning the corner, I discovered a lovely little shop.

Adverbs for Discover

finally; subsequently; readily; traitorously; astoundingly; amazingly; spectacularly; startlingly; thrillingly; remarkably; stupendously; trivially; miraculously; scientifically; painfully; revolutionizingly; astonishingly ; momentously.

Synonyms for Discover

• (expose something previously covered): expose, reveal, uncover
• (find something for the first time): come across, find
• disclose, invent, descry, detect, discern, ascertain, contrive, manifest, realize, unearth, elicit, stumble upon.

Antonyms for Discover

• (expose something previously covered): conceal, cover, cover up, hide
• mask, secrete, screen, disguise, bury, cover, cloak, suppress.

Derived terms

• discovery
• discovered attack
• discovered check

Thesaurus

advertise, ascertain, bare, be informed, become acquainted with, beget, behold, betray, break the seal, breed, bring forth, bring into being, bring to light, broaden the mind, call into being, catch on, catch sight of, clap eyes on, coin, conceive, concoct, contrive, cook up, cram the mind, debunk, descry, design, detect, determine, develop, devise, dig up, discern, disclose, dismask, distinguish, divulge, draw the veil, dream up, encounter, engender, espy, evolve, expose, fabricate, ferret out, find, find out, find out about, frame, gain knowledge, generate, get, get hold of, get wise to, give away, give being to, give rise to, glimpse, hatch, have in sight, hear, hit, hunt down, identify, impart, improvise, innovate, introduce, introduce new blood, invent, ken, lay bare, lay eyes on, lay open, learn, learn about, let daylight in, let out, load the mind, locate, look on, look upon, make do with, make innovations, make out, make up, manifest, mature, meet with, mint, mouth, neologize, note, notice, observe, open, open up, originate, perceive, pick out, pick up information, pioneer, plan, proclaim, procreate, publish, raise the curtain, recognize, rediscover, reveal, revolutionize, root out, run down, run to earth, search out, see, show, show up, sight, smoke out, spawn, spill, spot, spy, strike, strike out, strip bare, take in, tell, think out, think up, trace, trace down, track down, tumble, turn up, twig, uncloak, uncover, undrape, undress, unearth, unfold, unfurl, unkennel, unmask, unpack, unroll, unscreen, unsheathe, unshroud, unveil, unwrap, view, witness

Etymology

From Old French descovrir, from Latin discooperiō < dis- + cooperiō.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dɪsˈkʌvə/, SAMPA: /dIs"kVv@/
• (GenAm) IPA: /dɪsˈkʌvɚ/, SAMPA: /dIs"kVv@`/

• Audio (US)

  noicon

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌvə(r)

Translations

expose something previously covered

Bulgarian: намирам (bg) Catalan: descobrir (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 暴露 (cmn) (bàolù) Dutch: blootleggen (nl), onthullen (nl) Esperanto: malkovri (eo) Finnish: paljastaa (fi)

Georgian: მიაგნო (ka) (miagno) Russian: раскрывать (ru) (raskryvát') impf., раскрыть (ru) (raskrýt') pf., обнаруживать (ru) (obnarúživat') impf., обнаружить (ru) (obnarúžit') pf. Scottish Gaelic: rùisg (gd) Swedish: avslöja (sv), upptäcka (sv) Welsh: darganfod (cy)

find something for the first time

Arabic: اكتشف (ar) (iktashafa) Bulgarian: откривам (bg) Catalan: descobrir (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 發現 (zh), 发现 (zh) (fāxiàn), 發覺 (zh), 发觉 (zh) (fājué) (also spelled: 發見/发见), 查出 (zh) (cháchū) Czech: objevit (cs) Danish: opdage (da) Dutch: ontdekken (nl) Esperanto: malkovri (eo) Finnish: löytää (fi) French: découvrir (fr) Georgian: აღმოაჩინო (ka) (agh'moa'chino) German: entdecken (de) Italian: scoprire (it), discoprire (it)

Japanese: 発見する (ja) (はっけんする, hakken-suru), 見つける (ja) (みつける, mitsukeru) Latin: detego (la), invenio (la) Polish: odkrywać / odkryć Portuguese: descobrir (pt) Romanian: descoperi (ro) Russian: открывать (ru) (otkryvát') impf., открыть (ru) (otkrýt') pf., обнаруживать (ru) (obnarúživat') impf., обнаружить (ru) (obnarúžit') pf. Scots: diskiver Scottish Gaelic: faigh a-mach (gd) Spanish: descubrir (es) Swedish: upptäcka (sv) Greek: please add this translation if you can Persian: کشف کردن (fa) (kašf kardan) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Turkish: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked.

Translations to be checked

Catalan: descobrir Greek: ανακαλύπτω Hebrew: לחשוף (lakhsof) (1); לגלות (legalot) (2) Ido: des-kovrar Italian: scoprire

Malayalam: കണ്ടുപിടിയ്ക്കുക (kantupitiykkuka) Norwegian: oppdage Portuguese: descobrir Romanian: descoperi Sardinian: scoberri Sicilian: scopriri (1), addunarisi (2) Slovene: odkriti Telugu: కనిపెట్టు (kanipeTTu)

Anagrams

• divorces, divorcés