Meanings
discover1
present singular third person discovers · participle present discovering · participle past discovered · past discovered · first person past singular discovered · archaic present second person singular discoverest · past second person singular discovered · archaic past second person singular discoveredst · present singular third person discovers · archaic present singular third person discovereth · past singular third person discovered · past plural discovered · past subjunctive discovered · participle present discovering · participle past discovered · alternative obsolete discovre
- transitiveTo find or learn something for the first time.
Turning the corner, I discovered a lovely little shop. I discovered that they sold widgets.
1 more example
All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism.
2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848Synonyms: come across, find
- obsoletetransitiveTo remove the cover from; to uncover (a head, building etc.).
He set down his bags beside him, on the beautiful red floor, and he took off his hat, for he had reached his destination, discovering his scant red hair, and laid it on the table beside him.
1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC - transitiveboard gamesTo create by moving a piece out of another piece's line of attack.
This move discovers an attack on a vital pawn.
- transitivelawTo question (a person) as part of discovery in a lawsuit.
Indeed, the plaintiffs suggest that they may not need to call Ms. Samji at all if they are allowed to discover the defendant on the new documents before any new trial takes place.
2019 July 2, Ward K. Branch, “Gordon v. Canada, 2017 FC 454”, in CanLII, retrieved 13 Apr 2021 - archaictransitiveTo reveal (information); to divulge, make known.
I discovered my plans to the rest of the team.
4 more examples
Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover / The several caskets to this noble prince.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue.
1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Adversity”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLCIt was in vain to diſcover my Reſentments, which were always turned into Ridicule; and I was forced to reſt with Patience while my noble and moſt beloved Country was ſo injuriouſly treated.
1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Love of His Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page 269John discovered himself to his parents, and Elizabeth to hers, and the wedding-day was soon fixed, and such a wedding was never seen; before or since in the island of Rügen[.]
1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 312 - obsoletetransitiveTo reconnoitre, explore (an area).
they seyde the same, and were aggreed that Sir Clegis, Sir Claryon, and Sir Clement the noble, that they sholde dyscover the woodys, bothe the dalys and the downys.
1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum ix”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC - obsoletetransitiveTo manifest without design; to show; to exhibit.
The youth discovered a taste for sculpture.
1871, Charles John Smith, Synonyms Discriminated2 more examples
The scandal of a lie is in a manner lost and annihilated when diffused among several thousands; as a drop of the blackest tincture wears away and vanishes when mixed and confused in a considerable body of water; the blot is still in it, but is not able to discover itself.
1712 October 21 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, October 11, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 507; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 492The English Cooks keep all their Spices in separate boxes, but the French Cooks make a spicey mixture that does not discover a predominancy of any one of the spices over the others.
1806, Alexander Hunter, Culina Famulatrix Medicinæ, page 125
Discover2
- USDiscover Card, a brand of credit card.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo find or learn something for the first time.
More synonyms by meaning
verbdiscover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of by perception with the eyes
verbget to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
verbmake a discovery, make a new finding
verbfind unexpectedly
verbmake known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
verbidentify as in botany or biology, for example
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
discover · verb
- Latindis-
- Late Latindiscoperīre
- Old Frenchdescovrir
- Middle Englishdiscoveren
- Englishdiscover
From Middle English discoveren, from Old French descovrir, from Late Latin discoperīre < discooperiō, discooperīre, from Latin dis- + cooperiō. Displaced native Old English onfindan.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Discover · proper noun
Trade name, from discover; introduced by Sears in 1985.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἐξευρίσκω, ἐξευρίσκω
- ἐξευρίσκω (exeurískō)find something for the first time
- ἐξευρίσκω (exeurískō)expose something previously covered
Arabic اِكْتَشَفَ, اِكْتَشَفَ
- اِكْتَشَفَ (iktašafa)find something for the first time
- اِكْتَشَفَ (iktašafa)expose something previously covered
Bulgarian откри́вам, откри́я
- откри́вам (otkrívam)find something for the first time
- откри́я (otkríja)find something for the first time
- нами́рам (namíram)expose something previously covered
- наме́ря (namérja)expose something previously covered
- откри́вам (otkrívam)expose something previously covered
- откри́я (otkríja)expose something previously covered
- разкри́вам (razkrívam)expose something previously covered
- разкри́я (razkríja)expose something previously covered
Catalan descobrir, descobrir
- descobrirfind something for the first time
- descobrirexpose something previously covered
Chinese Cantonese 發現 /发现
- 發現 /发现 (faat³ jin⁶)find something for the first time
Chinese Mandarin 發現 /发现, 發覺 /发觉
- 發現 /发现 (fāxiàn)find something for the first time
- 發覺 /发觉 (fājué)find something for the first time
- 查出 (cháchū)find something for the first time
- 暴露 (bàolù)expose something previously covered
Czech objevovat, objevit
- objevovatfind something for the first time
- objevitfind something for the first time
- objevovatexpose something previously covered
- objevitexpose something previously covered
- odkrývatexpose something previously covered
- odkrýtexpose something previously covered
Danish opdage
- opdagefind something for the first time
Dutch ontdekken, blootleggen
- ontdekkenfind something for the first time
- blootleggenexpose something previously covered
- onthullenexpose something previously covered
Esperanto trovi, malkovri
- trovifind something for the first time
- malkovrifind something for the first time
- malkovriexpose something previously covered
Estonian avastama, tuvastama
- avastamafind something for the first time
- tuvastamafind something for the first time
Finnish löytää, paljastaa
- löytääfind something for the first time
- paljastaaexpose something previously covered
French découvrir, découvrir
- découvrirfind something for the first time
- découvrirexpose something previously covered
- dévoilerexpose something previously covered
German entdecken, erleben
- entdeckenfind something for the first time
- erlebenexpose something previously covered
- erfahrenexpose something previously covered
- dabei seinexpose something previously covered
Greek ανακαλύπτω, αποκαλύπτω
- ανακαλύπτω (anakalýpto)find something for the first time
- αποκαλύπτω (apokalýpto)expose something previously covered
Hebrew גִּלָּה
- גִּלָּה (gilá)find something for the first time
Hindi खोज निकालना, खोज करना
- खोज निकालना (khoj nikālnā)find something for the first time
- खोज करना (khoj karnā)find something for the first time
Hungarian felfedez, felfed
- felfedezfind something for the first time
- felfedexpose something previously covered
- feltárexpose something previously covered
- elárulexpose something previously covered
- elmondexpose something previously covered
- leleplezexpose something previously covered
Icelandic uppgötva, uppgötva
- uppgötvafind something for the first time
- uppgötvaexpose something previously covered
Italian scoprire, trovare
- scoprirefind something for the first time
- trovarefind something for the first time
- discoprirefind something for the first time
- scoprireexpose something previously covered
- discoprireexpose something previously covered
Japanese 発見する, 見つける
- 発見する (hakken suru)find something for the first time
- 見つける (mitsukeru)find something for the first time
Korean 발견하다, 찾아내다
- 발견하다 (balgyeonhada)find something for the first time
- 찾아내다 (chajanaeda)expose something previously covered
Latin comperiō, dētegō
- comperiōfind something for the first time
- dētegōfind something for the first time
- inveniōfind something for the first time
- dispiciōfind something for the first time
- dispectōfind something for the first time
- dispiciōexpose something previously covered
- dispectōexpose something previously covered
- reperiōexpose something previously covered
Latvian atklāt, uzzināt
- atklātfind something for the first time
- uzzinātfind something for the first time
Lithuanian atrasti, sužinoti
- atrastifind something for the first time
- sužinotifind something for the first time
Malay menemui
- menemuifind something for the first time
Māori kite, tūhura
- kitefind something for the first time
- tūhuraexpose something previously covered
- kiteexpose something previously covered
- whakatōmeneexpose something previously covered
Norwegian Bokmål oppdage
- oppdagefind something for the first time
Persian کشف کردن, یافتن
- کشف کردن (kašf kardan)find something for the first time
- یافتن (yâftan)find something for the first time
- آشکار کردن (âškâr kardan)expose something previously covered
Polish odkrywać, odkryć
- odkrywaćfind something for the first time
- odkryćfind something for the first time
- odkrywaćexpose something previously covered
- odkryćexpose something previously covered
Portuguese descobrir, descobrir
- descobrirfind something for the first time
- descobrirexpose something previously covered
Romanian descoperi, descoperi
- descoperifind something for the first time
- descoperiexpose something previously covered
Russian открыва́ть, откры́ть
- открыва́ть (otkryvátʹ)find something for the first time
- откры́ть (otkrýtʹ)find something for the first time
- обнару́живать (obnarúživatʹ)find something for the first time
- обнару́жить (obnarúžitʹ)find something for the first time
- раскрыва́ть (raskryvátʹ)expose something previously covered
- раскры́ть (raskrýtʹ)expose something previously covered
- обнару́живать (obnarúživatʹ)expose something previously covered
- обнару́жить (obnarúžitʹ)expose something previously covered
Scottish Gaelic faigh a-mach, rùisg
- faigh a-machfind something for the first time
- rùisgexpose something previously covered
Slovak objavovať, objaviť
- objavovaťfind something for the first time
- objaviťfind something for the first time
- odkrývaťexpose something previously covered
- odkryťexpose something previously covered
Spanish descubrir, descubrir
- descubrirfind something for the first time
- descubrirexpose something previously covered
- destaparexpose something previously covered
Swedish upptäcka, avslöja
- upptäckafind something for the first time
- avslöjaexpose something previously covered
- upptäckaexpose something previously covered
Tagalog tuklas, tukyan
- tuklasexpose something previously covered
- tukyanexpose something previously covered
Thai ค้นพบ
- ค้นพบ (kón-póp)find something for the first time
Turkish keşfetmek
- keşfetmekfind something for the first time
Ukrainian відкрива́ти, відкри́ти
- відкрива́ти (vidkryváty)find something for the first time
- відкри́ти (vidkrýty)find something for the first time
- виявля́ти (vyjavljáty)find something for the first time
- ви́явити (výjavyty)find something for the first time
- відкрива́ти (vidkryváty)expose something previously covered
- відкри́ти (vidkrýty)expose something previously covered
- виявля́ти (vyjavljáty)expose something previously covered
- ви́явити (výjavyty)expose something previously covered
- знахо́дити (znaxódyty)expose something previously covered
- знайти́ (znajtý)expose something previously covered
- розкрива́ти (rozkryváty)expose something previously covered
- розкри́ти (rozkrýty)expose something previously covered
Urdu دَرِیافْت کَرْنا
- دَرِیافْت کَرْنا (dariyāft karnā)find something for the first time
Vietnamese phát hiện, phát kiến
- phát hiệnfind something for the first time
- phát kiếnfind something for the first time
- khám pháexpose something previously covered
Welsh darganfod
- darganfodexpose something previously covered
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with discover
All rhymes →Cite this entry
discover. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discover
“discover.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discover. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “discover,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/discover.
Source: discover on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.