unearthun‧earth /ʌnˈɜːθ $ -ˈɜːrθ/ verb [transitive] 
Verb Table Examples
Farmers still sometimes unearth human bones here. In one shop, I unearthed a wonderful collection of 1920s toys.► see thesaurus at find2to find information or the truth about something or someone SYN dig up: The inquiry unearthed some disturbing evidence.
Verb TableVERB TABLE
unearth
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | unearth |
| he, she, it | unearths | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | unearthed |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have unearthed |
| he, she, it | has unearthed | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had unearthed |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will unearth |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have unearthed |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am unearthing |
| he, she, it | is unearthing | |
| you, we, they | are unearthing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was unearthing |
| you, we, they | were unearthing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been unearthing |
| he, she, it | has been unearthing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been unearthing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be unearthing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been unearthing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- His research unearthed new information about the origins of the HIV virus.
- I unearthed this old picture of him from a box in the basement.
- Investigators have unearthed new evidence about the possible cause of the crash.
- The incredible story was unearthed by reporters at the "Post."
- The surprising story was unearthed by reporters at the "Post."
- And most examples of successful decentralization unearthed by researchers involve manufacturing firms.
- Even seemingly harmless facts may prove incriminating in light of other information Starr has unearthed.
- On one occasion they unearthed a blue taffeta ball dress with small bouquets of pink and cream brocade roses.
- Only a three-yard stretch of the theatre has been unearthed, and it is not known whether any more will be excavated.
- Strangely drawn to the light he unearthed the dragon armour of Aenarion.
- The mats would support a crane, which could be used to unearth parts of the plane.
THESAURUS► find
Word family to get or see something that you have been searching for: · Have you found your passport yet?· 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.· 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.· 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.· 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.
Longman Language Activatorto find something new and important► find to find something important that no one knew about before, especially information or a way of doing something: · Medical researchers are determined to find a cure for cancer.· It's crucial that we find cleaner ways of generating electricity.· Bodies up to 2,000 years old have been found buried in the peat bogs of central England.
► discover to find an object, a substance, a place, information etc, that is important and that no one knew about before: · The planet Pluto was discovered in 1930.· Australian researchers have discovered a substance in coffee that acts like morphine.
► make a discovery to find something important, interesting, or surprising that no one knew about before: · Hawking made many discoveries about the nature of stars.· Carlo Rubbia, who led the team of scientists that made the discovery, received the Nobel prize in 1984.· Amazing discoveries have been made by anthropologists excavating in the Rift Valley.· An important discovery was made by Mendel in the mid-nineteenth century.
► unearth to find something that was hidden or kept secret for a long time, especially information: · Investigators have unearthed new evidence about the possible cause of the crash.· The incredible story was unearthed by reporters at the "Post".· His research unearthed new information about the origins of the HIV virus.
► turn up to find something interesting or useful, especially information, while you are searching carefully: · After seven months on the case, the police failed to turn up any real clues.· A thorough examination of the company's account books turned up several interesting facts.
to find out something new or something that was secret► find out · He just had to hope he'd get away with it and that nobody would find out.· She doesn't want people to find out her age.· You read her diary? Just make sure she never finds out!find out what/why/how etc · Dad was furious when he found out where I was living.find out about · It's a surprise party, so I don't want her to find out about it.find out (that) · It was three months before my parents found out I'd been going out with Peter.find somebody out (=find out someone's secret) British · It won't work. Someone's bound to find you out eventually.
► uncover/unearth to find out information that has been deliberately kept secret, especially while you are studying or examining a particular subject: · Detectives have uncovered a plan to smuggle illegal weapons into the country.· Lawyers unearthed evidence that he held several bank accounts.
► dig up to find out information by searching carefully for it, especially information about someone's past that they have deliberately tried to keep secret: dig something up/dig up something: · I wanted to dig a few more facts up for my article.dig up dirt on somebody (=find out something bad about someone): · Politicians try to dig up dirt on their opponents.dig something up on somebody: · He wanted as much evidence as could be dug up on the girl.
► get at to find something out, especially the truth about a situation, or facts that someone has tried to hide: · It's hard to get at the facts when people are afraid to speak out.· He was a good reporter, who wanted to get at the truth and present it without bias.
► get wind of informal to find out about a situation or something that is going to happen, especially when it is supposed to be secret: · Reporters somehow got wind of the fact that Carr was going to be arrested.
► get wise to informal to find out about something such as a trick or an illegal activity: · The police parked an empty patrol car there to reduce speeding, but drivers got wise to it pretty quickly.
WORD FAMILYnounearthearthlingearthinessadjectiveearthyearthly ≠ unearthlyearthenverbunearthadverbearthward(s)
1to find something after searching for it, especially something that has been buried in the ground or lost for a long time: Farmers still sometimes unearth human bones here. In one shop, I unearthed a wonderful collection of 1920s toys.► see thesaurus at find2to find information or the truth about something or someone SYN dig up: The inquiry unearthed some disturbing evidence.