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# excavation

noun (an excavation, excavations)

«excavation» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Digging in the ground, especially carefully to find old things such as bones, pots and buildings. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#m1)
2. A place where such digging is done; a dig. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#m2)
3. Digging a big hole for building, for example for a basement or tunnel. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#m3)

### In the lessons

In history and science lessons, archaeologists carry out excavations to find Roman coins or dinosaur bones. On building sites, excavation means digging out the ground before building. Safety: excavations are deep holes — keep out.

### Examples

- The excavation uncovered a Roman mosaic floor. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#x1)
- Archaeologists spent months on the excavation. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#x2)
- We visited an excavation where dinosaur bones were found. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#x3)
- Keep away from the excavation — the sides may fall in. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#x4)
- Excavation for the new car park begins next week. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#x5)
- The museum shows objects from the excavation. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#x6)
- The excavation was carefully mapped in squares. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#x7)
- The wonderful excavations in Olympia, to which allusion has already been made, have brought to light an exquisite marble group of Hermes and the infant Bacchus, by Praxiteles. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/#x8)

### Note

Verb: excavate; person: excavator (also a digging machine). Countable: excavations. Archaeologists dig slowly with small tools and brushes so nothing breaks. Dinosaur digs are by palaeontologists, not archaeologists — a common confusion.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «excavation» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excavation/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«excavation» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/excavation.html) on Mova free.