excavateverb [ I or T ]
uk/ˈek.skə.veɪt/us/ˈek.skə.veɪt/to remove earth that is covering very old objects buried in the ground in order to discover things about the past:
Ice age bones are being excavated in the caves.
to dig a hole or channel in the ground, especially with a machine:
In tin mining today, workers excavate tunnels horizontally from a vertical shaft.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Archaeology
- archaeological
- archaeologist
- archaeology
- archeology
- artefact
- carbon dating
- Colosseum
- dig
- industrial archaeology
- uncover
- unearth
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Engineering - mining & quarrying
excavation
noun [ C or U ] uk/ˌeks.kəˈveɪ.ʃən/us/ˌeks.kəˈveɪ.ʃən/
Excavation on the site is likely to continue for several years.
She has taken part in several excavations of Roman settlements across Europe.