explore

1. 1.

   inquire into

   “the students had to research the history of the Second World War for their history project”

   “He searched for information on his relatives on the web”

   “Scientists are exploring the nature of consciousness”

   Synonymsresearchsearch

   Broaderinvestigate

   Narrowerprospectgooglemapquestre-explorecast about
2. 2.

   travel to or penetrate into

   “explore unknown territory in biology”

   Broaderinvestigate

   Narrowerpioneercavemap
3. 3.

   examine minutely

   Broaderdiagnose

   Narrowerplumb
4. 4.

   examine (organs) for diagnostic purposes

   Broaderdiagnose

   Narrowerput out feelers

   medicine

Other forms of explore

past tense

explored·

present participle

exploring·

third person

explores·

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 explore

What does explore mean?

explore means "inquire into". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in explore?

explore has 2 syllables: ex-plore. The stress falls on "plore". In IPA it is /ɪkˈsplɔɹ/.

What is another word for explore?

Close synonyms include research, search. 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 explore a common word?

explore is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.