MEANING
1. To bring something out of the ground by digging.
2. To discover something that has been hidden, forgotten, or difficult to find.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- unearth a skeleton
- unearth buried remains
On the page
Winter storms unearthed fragments of the old harbor wall.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- unearth
- Past tense
- unearthed
- Past participle
- unearthed
- Present participle
- unearthing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- unearth
- Present continuous
- am/is/are unearthing
- Present perfect
- have/has unearthed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been unearthing
- Past
- unearthed
- Past continuous
- was/were unearthing
- Past perfect
- had unearthed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been unearthing
- Future
- will unearth
- Future continuous
- will be unearthing
- Future perfect
- will have unearthed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been unearthing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: unearth; unearths; unearthed; unearthed; unearthing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, action. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: unearths.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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