discover

See also: Discover

English

Alternative forms

• discovre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French descovrir, from Latin discooperiō, from dis- + cooperiō.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈkʌvə/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈkʊvə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈkʌvɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌvə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: dis‧cov‧er

Verb

discover (third-person singular simple present discovers, present participle discovering, simple past and past participle discovered)

1. To find or learn something for the first time.

   Turning the corner, I discovered a lovely little shop. I discovered that they sold widgets.

   • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To remove the cover from; to uncover (a head, building etc.).
3. (transitive, now rare) To expose, uncover.

   The gust of wind discovered a bone in the sand.

4. (transitive, chess) To create by moving a piece out of another piece's line of attack.

   This move discovers an attack on a vital pawn.

5. (transitive, archaic) To reveal (information); to divulge, make known.

   I discovered my plans to the rest of the team.

   • Shakespeare

     Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover / The several caskets to this noble prince.

   • Francis Bacon

     Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To reconnoitre, explore (an area).
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, Bk.V, ch.ix:

     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.

7. (obsolete) To manifest without design; to show; to exhibit.
   • C. J. Smith

     The youth discovered a taste for sculpture.

   • 1806, Alexander Hunter, Culina Famulatrix Medicinæ, page 125:

     The 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.

Synonyms

• (expose something previously covered): expose, reveal, uncover
• (find something for the first time): come across, find

Antonyms

• (expose something previously covered): conceal, cover, cover up, hide

Derived terms

• discovery
• discovered attack
• discovered check

Translations

expose something previously covered

• Bulgarian: нами́рам (bg) impf (namíram)
• Catalan: descobrir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暴露 (zh) (bàolù)

• Czech: objevit (cs), odkrýt
• Dutch: blootleggen (nl), onthullen (nl)
• Esperanto: malkovri
• Finnish: paljastaa (fi)
• French: découvrir (fr)
• Galician: descubrir
• Georgian: მიგნება (migneba), აღმოჩენა (aɣmočena)
• Greek: αποκαλύπτω (el) (apokalýpto)
• Hungarian: felfedez (hu)
• Ido: deskovrar (io)

• Korean: 발견하다 (ko) (balgyeonhada), 찾아내다 (ko) (chajanaeda)
• Latin: dispicio, dispecto, reperio
• Macedonian: открива (otkriva)
• Maori: tūhura, kite, whakatōmene
• Occitan: descobrir (oc)
• Old English: abeþecian, afindan, abarian
• Persian: آشکار کردن‏‎ (fa) (āŝkār kardan)
• Portuguese: descobrir (pt), descobrir (pt)
• Romanian: descoperi (ro)
• Russian: раскрыва́ть (ru) impf (raskryvátʹ), раскры́ть (ru) pf (raskrýtʹ), обнару́живать (ru) impf (obnarúživatʹ), обнару́жить (ru) pf (obnarúžitʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: rùisg
• Spanish: descubrir (es), destapar (es)
• Swedish: avslöja (sv), upptäcka (sv)
• Welsh: darganfod (cy)

find something for the first time

• Arabic: اِكْتَشَفَ‏‎ (iktašafa)
• Armenian: հայտնաբերել (hy) (haytnaberel)
• Bulgarian: откри́вам (bg) impf (otkrívam)
• Catalan: descobrir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 發現 (faat³ jin⁶)

  Mandarin: 發現 (zh), 发现 (zh) (fāxiàn) (also spelled: 發見/发见), 發覺 (zh), 发觉 (zh) (fājué), 查出 (zh) (cháchū)

• Czech: objevit (cs)
• Danish: opdage
• Dutch: ontdekken (nl)
• Esperanto: malkovri
• Finnish: löytää (fi)
• French: découvrir (fr)
• Friulian: scuvierzi
• Georgian: მიგნება (migneba), აღმოჩენა (aɣmočena)
• German: entdecken (de)
• Greek: ανακαλύπτω (el) (anakalýpto)
• Ido: trovar (io), deskovrar (io)
• Interlingua: discoperir
• Italian: scoprire (it), discoprire
• Japanese: 発見する (はっけんする, hakken-suru), 見つける (みつける, mitsukeru)

• Latin: detego, invenio (la), dispicio, dispecto
• Lojban: facki
• Macedonian: пронаоѓа (pronaoǵa), открива (otkriva)
• Malay: menemui
• Maori: kite
• Norman: dêcouvri
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oppdage (no)

• Persian: کشف کردن‏‎ (fa) (kašf kardan), یافتن‏‎ (fa) (yāftan)
• Polish: odkrywać (pl), odkryć (pl)
• Portuguese: descobrir (pt)
• Romanian: descoperi (ro)
• Russian: открыва́ть (ru) impf (otkryvátʹ), откры́ть (ru) pf (otkrýtʹ), обнару́живать (ru) impf (obnarúživatʹ), обнару́жить (ru) pf (obnarúžitʹ)
• Scots: diskiver
• Scottish Gaelic: faigh a-mach
• Spanish: descubrir (es)
• Swedish: upptäcka (sv)
• Turkish: keşfetmek (tr)
• Venetian: scovèrzar, scoverzèr, scuajar, scoprir
• Vietnamese: phát hiện (vi), phát kiến (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} descobrir (ca)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} לגלות‏‎ (legalot), ^{(please verify)} לחשוף‏‎ (lakhsof)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} scoprire (it)
• Malayalam: ^{(please verify)} കണ്ടുപിടിയ്ക്കുക (kaṇṭupiṭiykkuka)
• Norwegian: oppdage

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} descoperi (ro)
• Sardinian: ^{(please verify)} scoberri
• Sicilian: ^{(please verify)} scopriri, ^{(please verify)} addunarisi (scn)
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} odkriti (sl)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} కనిపెట్టు (te) (kanipeṭṭu)

See also

• invent
• detect
• find
• stumble upon

Anagrams

• codrives, discovre, divorces, divorcés