discover
Usage
What are other ways to say discover?
The verb discover is used with objective clauses as a synonym of learn in order to suggest that the new information acquired is surprising to the learner: I discovered that she had been married before. To learn is to add to one's knowledge or information: to learn a language. To ascertain is to verify facts by inquiry or analysis: to ascertain the truth about an event. To detect implies becoming aware of something that had been obscure, secret, or concealed: to detect a flaw in reasoning.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Zhou helped discover the MPS in 2013 while working as a postdoctoral researcher on a Harvard team.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
Though Nam Ji-ah looks like Ah-eum, Lee does not believe it is her but together they try to discover what happened to her parents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The possibility that AI could discover powerful new drugs has long been tantalizing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
"Norwegians are as daft about football as the Scots and I was amazed to discover the number of Doonhamers who are related to or have friends who are Norwegians," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
I glanced back at Regan to discover her grinning like an idiot.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Likewise, viewers will not be startled when Marina eventually discovers painful secrets about her mom and dad that cause her to reconsider those phantom figures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
If a future astrobiology mission discovers life in Venus' clouds, one possible explanation is that it originally came from Earth.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
It conducts the initial research about the organization being targeted, discovers email accounts belonging to executives, then builds a phishing attack to steal their email login credentials, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
There, Lightning gets to know the town’s colorful cars and discovers that glory isn’t all it’s cracked up to be if you have no one to enjoy it with.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
Inside a warped cabinet drawer, miraculously, he discovers a zinc-carbon eleven-volt battery with a black cat printed on the side.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
The mission had previously discovered Greek papyri positioned in similar ways during earlier excavations.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
The body of Widdecombe, 78, was discovered on Thursday 9 July at her home in Haytor.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
It also launched a massive recruiting blitz that has sometimes resulted in porous vetting, as Slate’s Laura Jedeed discovered when ICE offered her a job after she skipped several screening steps.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026
Brown said he was initially diagnosed with “bad food poisoning” but after multiple visits to urgent care and shedding 20 pounds, the health care team conducted a diagnostic fecal test and discovered Brown had cyclosporiasis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Uncle Manfred’s clothes were a little on the small side for Peter, we discovered, and the trousers hung loose around his waist, but they were dry, and that was all that mattered.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
On discovering she was still alive they rushed her to hospital where she later died having suffered hypothermia.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
And Mikhail Fiksel’s looping systems architecture and sound design, while beyond my technical comprehension, added to the unique magic of a score that is discovering itself in real time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
His portrayal of a paleontologist suddenly discovering that the creatures he’s studied in rock and bone have come to life is just masterful.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
The risks include the possibility of deportation, or that an employer terminates a worker after discovering they don’t have valid work authorization.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
In 1992, Bolton’s grandson Dennis McAuliffe Jr., an editor at the Washington Post, had investigated her death after discovering numerous contradictions and lies in the official account.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Vocabulary lists containing discover
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Beowulf vocabulary
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"Return to Titanic" and "Talking with Robert Ballard"
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