discover Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of
    notice; observe; detect; find.
    • She detected high levels of lead in her drinking water
    • We found traces of lead in the paint
  2. verb get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
    pick up; get a line; see; hear; learn; find out; get wind; get word.
    • I learned that she has two grown-up children
    • I see that you have been promoted
  3. verb make a discovery, make a new finding
    find.
    • Roentgen discovered X-rays
    • Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle
  4. verb make a discovery
    find.
    • She found that he had lied to her
    • The story is false, so far as I can discover
  5. verb find unexpectedly
    happen upon; fall upon; attain; come upon; chance upon; light upon; come across; strike; chance on.
    • the archeologists chanced upon an old tomb
    • she struck a goldmine
    • The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake
  6. verb make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
    disclose; reveal; unwrap; bring out; expose; let on; divulge; break; let out; give away.
    • The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold
    • The actress won't reveal how old she is
    • bring out the truth
    • he broke the news to her
    • unwrap the evidence in the murder case
  7. verb see for the first time; make a discovery
    • Who discovered the North Pole?
  8. verb identify as in botany or biology, for example
    name; describe; identify; key; distinguish; key out.

WordNet

Dis*cov"er transitive verb
Etymology
OE. discoveren, discuren, descuren, OF. descovrir, descouvrir, F. découvrir; des- (L. dis-) + couvrir to cover. See Cover.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Discovered ; present participle & verbal noun Discovering
Definitions
  1. To uncover. Obs.
    Whether any man hath pulled down or discovered any church. Abp. Grindal.
  2. To disclose; to lay open to view; to make visible; to reveal; to make known; to show (what has been secret, unseen, or unknown).
    Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover The several caskets to this noble prince. Shak.
    Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue. Bacon.
    We will discover ourselves unto them. 1 Sam. xiv. 8.
    Discover not a secret to another. Prov. xxv. 9.
  3. To obtain for the first time sight or knowledge of, as of a thing existing already, but not perceived or known; to find; to ascertain; to espy; to detect.
    Some to discover islands far away. Shak.
  4. To manifest without design; to show.
    The youth discovered a taste for sculpture. C. J. Smith.
  5. To explore; to examine. Obs. Syn. -- To disclose; bring out; exhibit; show; manifest; reveal; communicate; impart; tell; espy; find; out; detect. -- To Discover, Invent. We discover what existed before, but remained unknown; we invent by forming combinations which are either entirely new, or which attain their end by means unknown before. Columbus discovered America; Newton discovered the law of gravitation; Whitney invented the cotton gin; Galileo invented the telescope.
Dis*cov"er intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To discover or show one's self. Obs.
    This done, they discover. Decke.
    Nor was this the first time that they discovered to be followers of this world. Milton.

Webster 1913