as in finding
to come upon after searching, study, or effort
she tried to dig up any information she could for the report on sharks
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Recent Examples of digging up
Their data found hundreds of armadillos happily digging up gardens as far north as Indiana and as far east as North Carolina.
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Maggie Koerth, CNN Money, 25 Dec. 2025
While some sellers might have had this winter sports gear for only a year or so, others might be digging up old gear from their basements or garages that is no longer considered safe by current standards, such as helmets, which often have an expiration date.
—Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 23 Dec. 2025
This has become the central theme of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City—probably the most chaotic show in its franchise—whose characters are always trying to root out which of their frenemies is furtively digging up dirt and spreading rumors about their legal or financial woes.
—Judy Berman, Time, 5 Nov. 2025
Carpenter quickly zeroed in on what appeared to be a human femur and Miller's references to digging up items himself.
—Domenica Bongiovanni, IndyStar, 5 Nov. 2025
To keep gophers and moles out, gardeners had to put their own screens under the ground to keep them from digging up to the plants.
—Nollyanne Delacruz, Mercury News, 29 Oct. 2025
Make sure to sanitize garden tools after digging up each dahlia plant and before division to discourage the spread of any diseases that may be present.
—Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 17 Oct. 2025
Animals like squirrels, chipmunks, and deer often thwart gardeners' efforts by digging up or eating flowering bulbs.
—Paul Cappiello, Louisville Courier Journal, 10 Oct. 2025
The late farmer from Wisconsin began his life of crime by digging up the fresh graveyards of women who resembled his mom, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
—Christopher Rudolph, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for digging up
Verb
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The series chronicles three New Yorkers who come together over their love of true crime podcasts and end up finding themselves at the center of more than a few true crimes.—
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At least in the interim, Duke deserves credit for finding ways to win despite some of its defensive deficiencies.—
Verb
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Kinnear said the Checkers are still learning to deal with things such as lengthy road trips.—
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Dancing along to educational songs brings you and your kids closer together—and turns learning about their world into a fun game.—
Verb
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Though the first installment, based on books by Stephenie Meyer, was released in 2008, the franchise found new fans in younger TikTok users who were just discovering it for the first time.—
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Sacramento County health inspectors closed a local Asian restaurant, indoor soccer business and a market after discovering live German cockroaches, operating without a valid health permit and other food safety violations.—
Verb
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After locating handgun ammunition in the SUV, Burbank PD used a helicopter and police dog named Spike to locate Alas along a steep embankment along the freeway.—
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Officials have requested the public's help in locating the two men, and also shared CCTV footage showing what the men were wearing on New Year’s Day.—
Verb
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After all avenues have been exhausted for finding out who these people are, the chief medical examiner of Alexandroupoli calls the chief imam of Sidiro, which is a Muslim Greek village.—
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De Pablo and Weatherly then reunited for the Paramount+ spinoff, which sees their characters on the run across Europe after finding out that someone is targeting them and their daughter.—
Verb
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The Ravens and Browns are both digging out of a hole at 1-4, and the Ravens are as beat up as any other team in the NFL.—
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The host is also aware some staff and crew members are still digging out of the financial hole created by the months-long writers and actors strikes in 2023.—
Verb
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For more than 50 years, the harrowing Vietnam War image, which shows a nine-year-old girl named Kim Phúc running down a road naked, her clothes burned off in a napalm attack, has been credited to an Associated Press photographer named Nick Út.—
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Hard not to call to mind the heavily creased face of a Native American man (who turned out to be Italian) in that public service ad against littering—hair in braids, a tear running down his stoic cheek.—
Verb
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If Carolina is thinking about the big picture, giving Coker the extra year, perhaps valued as a first- or second-round tender, is just getting ahead of a formality.—
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Chief among them is getting to be a mentor to newer cast members, such as Marcello Hernández.—
Cite this Entry
“Digging up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/digging%20up. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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