discovering

verb

present participle of discover
1
as in realizing
to come to an awareness of I was startled to discover that my keys were missing

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in finding
to come upon after searching, study, or effort we hope to discover the real reason for his odd behavior

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in disclosing
to make known (as information previously kept secret) discovered to his friend how people whom he had trusted had betrayed him

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of discovering Wang failed her first attempt to defend her dissertation and became envious of her colleague's success in discovering how to deliver RNA to human cells using bacteria, Gomelsky told The Associated Press. — Arkansas Online, 15 Oct. 2026 The broader ecosystem is tasked with making that economically viable, at a time when consumers are discovering content differently than ever before, while also watching TV in more ways than ever before. — Travis Clark, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026 Yolexis Toop, artistic swimming coach Yolexis Toop, a Venezuela native who competed on her home country’s national team, founded Boise Artistic Swimming in 2025 after discovering Idaho had no club for the sport. — Idaho Statesman, 15 Oct. 2026 The publisher was so glad, saying thank you because the book is back, and on top of that, the world is discovering that character. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 15 Oct. 2026 Named for the festival’s founding year, ABFF97 builds on ABFF’s 30-year history of discovering and championing emerging filmmakers by extending that work beyond the festival circuit and into theatrical release. — Brent Lang, IndieWire, 14 Oct. 2026 There’s a lot more competition now, especially with the celebrity beauty brands and the indie or niche brands that are blowing up on TikTok, which is a super popular platform for discovering new beauty products. — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 9 Oct. 2026 Living with loss means discovering that time does not, in fact, heal all wounds, because time is itself the wound. — Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2026 And over the past year, the red teams had been discovering some concerning things. — Kevin Roose, Vanity Fair, 7 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for discovering
  1. realizing
  2. finding
  3. disclosing
  4. learning
  5. locating
  6. revealing
  7. seeing
  8. uncovering
Verb
  • In 2025, realizing the existing Siri couldn’t grow into the AI era, the company scrapped it in favor of another version that had been two-tracked.
    — Andrew R. Chow, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
  • There’s irony, Gilbert said, in realizing that his father has played rapists, drug dealers, and cartel members without audiences mistaking their beliefs for his own.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of realizing
Verb
  • There was very little original local production, and people were finding their favourite TV shows through obscure corners of the web.
    — Annika Pham, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026
  • This pliability has made the app particularly popular for casual, real-time occasions—such as finding the ideal hostess gift for a weekend visit or selecting a thoughtful token for a friend—without resorting to generic fallback options.
    — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of finding
Verb
  • The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in March, so the company isn't disclosing exact revenue figures.
    — Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 13 Oct. 2026
  • It’s led creatives to walk a tricky line between the wish to experiment with AI and the havoc disclosing its use can wreak.
    — Corbin Bolies, Variety, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of disclosing
Verb
  • Rilke writes about solitude, love, patience and learning to live with uncertainty.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The program provides training in barista skills, espresso brewing, earning a food handler’s license, learning point-of-sale systems, customer service skills, food prep and other more general workplace skills.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of learning
Verb
  • Authorities in northeastern Minnesota are asking for the public's help in locating a 16-year-old girl last seen in Minneapolis.
    — WCCO Staff, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The mounting holes, locating slots, and curved bodies reproduced clearly, although visible layer lines and some surface unevenness made these less polished than my fine-detail test prints.
    — Michael Lydick, PC Magazine, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of locating
Verb
  • The extra baggage negates the weightlessness, revealing a more flawed and earthbound iteration of the band.
    — Gabriel Szatan, Pitchfork, 18 Oct. 2026
  • The seemingly perfectly healthy and always active youngster from Georgia suffered a massive seizure, with scans later revealing three brain tumors.
    — Patrick Snell, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of revealing
Verb
  • Even the role of chief risk officer (CRO), a function where institutional memory and regulatory relationships would seem to argue hardest for continuity, is seeing meaningful outside recruitment.
    — Paul Davis, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • For a blueprint, Johnson points to a handful of NBA stars who have mastered the art of seeing the game unfold a step or two ahead of everyone else — Draymond Green, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and, yes, former Spurs great Tim Duncan.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of seeing
Verb
  • The book covers an enormous chunk of British screen history (1896 to 2001), with each chapter uncovering and illuminating the careers of early Black screen pioneers.
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026
  • OpenAI solved the million-dollar problem by uncovering a flaw in the equations.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of uncovering

Browse Nearby Words

discoveries
discovering
discovers
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Discovering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/discovering. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of compunction

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All