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:
Have you ever had a wonderful friend, but then gone on vacation with them only to discover that you needed space?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Rebecca leads us on a journey to discover what’s behind the hype.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 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
I looked up to discover a woman with a scarf around her head.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
When Lok discovers simile, it is, poignantly, to describe his awareness that the newcomers will sweep through his world “like a fire in the forest.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 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
On a reconnaissance mission, Jessie climbs to the roof and discovers the root of this strange standoffishness: Every child, in every window, has their face glued to a screen.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2026
His condition is both a superpower and a vulnerability, as we see when he discovers a dangerous new skill, cracking safes, with his unique ability to hear the tumblers of the lock moving internally.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
“As long as there are people to hear it, they’ll tell the story of the man who discovers it,” Dimarion said, his eyes never leaving Reed’s.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Oddie later discovered that her depression had followed the premature deaths of his two older siblings.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
America’s first permanent federal bankruptcy law, enacted in 1898, was designed for businesses, but individuals discovered its benefits, as Mary Eschelbach Hansen and Bradley A. Hansen explain in “Bankrupt in America.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Found in southern England, the object is the oldest known elephant bone tool ever discovered in Europe.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
The search was widened to "the whole city" after the vehicle was discovered abandoned in the vast Tiergarten park.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
Marlene, we soon discovered, had made Karli and me famous overnight.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
More important, no small part of the fun is in discovering each new universe alongside the travelers, and in the transformation of familiar environments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
More people are discovering that they can follow every headline, understand every threat and still have nowhere to put the fear.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
His character is naturally fascinated by the dinosaur park but soon realises the reptiles are breeding, after discovering broken dinosaur eggshells and baby footprints in the jungle.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 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
Now above me the nanny was discovering that Sebastian’s teeth were coal-black from that licorice.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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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