dig

1. 1.

   the site of an archeological exploration

   “they set up camp next to the dig”

   Synonymsexcavationarcheological site

   Broadersite

   NarrowerByblos

   archeology

2. 2.

   an aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect

   “his parting shot was `drop dead'”

   “she threw shafts of sarcasm”

   “she takes a dig at me every chance she gets”

   Synonymsshotshaftslambarbjibegibe

   Broaderremark

   Narrowercheap shot
3. 3.

   a small gouge (as in the cover of a book)

   “the book was in good condition except for a dig in the back cover”

   Broaderdent
4. 4.

   the act of digging

   “there's an interesting excavation going on near Princeton”

   Synonymsexcavationdigging

   Broadercreating by removal
5. 5.

   the act of touching someone suddenly with your finger or elbow

   “she gave me a sharp dig in the ribs”

   Synonymsjab

   Broadertouch

Other forms of dig

plural

digs·

past tense or participle

dug

present participle

digging

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about dig

What does dig mean?

dig means "turn up, loosen, or remove earth". That is the primary sense; the word has 13 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in dig?

dig has 1 syllable: dig. In IPA it is /ˈdɪɡ/.

What is another word for dig?

Close synonyms include delve, cut into, turn over, dig out, labor. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is dig a common word?

dig is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.