dis‧cov‧er S2 W1 / dɪskʌvə $ -ər / 动词 [及物动词]

1 to find someone or something, either by accident or because you were looking for them :

The body was discovered in a field.

Forest Service crews often discover campfires that have not been put out completely.

2 to find out something that you did not know about before :

The exercises let students discover math concepts on their own.

discover (that)

She discovered that she was pregnant.

discover who/what/how etc

His friends were shocked to discover how ill he was.

3 if someone discovers a new place, fact, substance etc, they are the first person to find it or know that it exists :

The Curies are best known for discovering radium.

4 to notice or try something for the first time and start to enjoy it :

At fourteen, Louise discovered boys.

5 to notice someone who is very good at something and help them to become successful and well-known :

a band that’s waiting to be discovered

— discoverer 名词 [可数名词]

THESAURUS

find to get or see something that you have been searching for : Have you found your passport yet? | Police later found the car abandoned in a wood.

discover to find something that was hidden or that people did not know about before : A second bomb has been discovered in south London.

locate formal to find the exact position of something : The airline are still trying to locate my luggage. | Online maps make it easy to locate almost any place in the world.

come across something to find something unexpectedly when you are not looking for it : I came across some old letters from my father in my drawer.

stumble on/across something to find something unexpectedly, especially something very important : They may have stumbled across some vital evidence. | Completely by chance we had stumbled on the biggest hit of the year.

trace to find someone or something that has disappeared, especially by a careful process of collecting information : She had given up all hope of tracing her missing daughter.

track somebody/something down to find someone or something that is difficult to find by searching in different places : I’ve been trying to track down a book that’s out of print. | The police managed to track down the killer.

unearth to find something that has been hidden or lost for a long time, by digging or searching for it : In 1796, a carved stone was unearthed near the burial mound.