Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb discover

8 senses of discover

Sense 1
detect, observe, find, discover, notice -- (discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of; "She detected high levels of lead in her drinking water"; "We found traces of lead in the paint")
       => spy, sight -- (catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes; "he caught sight of the king's men coming over the ridge")

Sense 2
learn, hear, get word, get wind, pick up, find out, get a line, discover, see -- (get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally; "I learned that she has two grown-up children"; "I see that you have been promoted")

Sense 3
discover, find -- (make a discovery, make a new finding; "Roentgen discovered X-rays"; "Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle")
       => gestate, conceive, conceptualize, conceptualise -- (have the idea for; "He conceived of a robot that would help paralyzed patients"; "This library was well conceived")

Sense 4
discover, find -- (make a discovery; "She found that he had lied to her"; "The story is false, so far as I can discover")
       => learn, hear, get word, get wind, pick up, find out, get a line, discover, see -- (get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally; "I learned that she has two grown-up children"; "I see that you have been promoted")

Sense 5
fall upon, strike, come upon, light upon, chance upon, come across, chance on, happen upon, attain, discover -- (find unexpectedly; "the archeologists chanced upon an old tomb"; "she struck a goldmine"; "The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake")
       => find, regain -- (come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost; "Did you find your glasses?"; "I cannot find my gloves!")

Sense 6
unwrap, disclose, let on, bring out, reveal, discover, expose, divulge, break, give away, let out -- (make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; "The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold"; "The actress won't reveal how old she is"; "bring out the truth"; "he broke the news to her"; "unwrap the evidence in the murder case")
       => tell -- (let something be known; "Tell them that you will be late")

Sense 7
discover -- (see for the first time; make a discovery; "Who discovered the North Pole?")

Sense 8
identify, discover, key, key out, distinguish, describe, name -- (identify as in botany or biology, for example)