find Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a productive insight
    breakthrough; discovery.
  2. noun the act of discovering something
    uncovering; discovery.
  3. verb come upon, as if by accident; meet with
    chance; bump; happen; encounter.
    • We find this idea in Plato
    • I happened upon the most wonderful bakery not very far from here
    • She chanced upon an interesting book in the bookstore the other day
  4. verb discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of
    notice; observe; detect; discover.
    • She detected high levels of lead in her drinking water
    • We found traces of lead in the paint
  5. verb come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost
    regain.
    • Did you find your glasses?
    • I cannot find my gloves!
  6. verb establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study
    find out; determine; ascertain.
    • find the product of two numbers
    • The physicist who found the elusive particle won the Nobel Prize
  7. verb come to believe on the basis of emotion, intuitions, or indefinite grounds
    feel.
    • I feel that he doesn't like me
    • I find him to be obnoxious
    • I found the movie rather entertaining
  8. verb perceive or be contemporaneous with
    see; witness.
    • We found Republicans winning the offices
    • You'll see a lot of cheating in this school
    • The 1960's saw the rebellion of the younger generation against established traditions
    • I want to see results
  9. verb get something or somebody for a specific purpose
    line up; get hold; come up.
    • I found this gadget that will serve as a bottle opener
    • I got hold of these tools to fix our plumbing
    • The chairman got hold of a secretary on Friday night to type the urgent letter
  10. verb make a discovery, make a new finding
    discover.
    • Roentgen discovered X-rays
    • Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle
  11. verb make a discovery
    discover.
    • She found that he had lied to her
    • The story is false, so far as I can discover
  12. verb obtain through effort or management
    • She found the time and energy to take care of her aging parents
    • We found the money to send our sons to college
  13. verb decide on and make a declaration about
    rule.
    • find someone guilty
  14. verb receive a specified treatment (abstract)
    receive; incur; obtain; get.
    • These aspects of civilization do not find expression or receive an interpretation
    • His movie received a good review
    • I got nothing but trouble for my good intentions
  15. verb perceive oneself to be in a certain condition or place
    • I found myself in a difficult situation
    • When he woke up, he found himself in a hospital room
  16. verb get or find back; recover the use of
    regain; recover; retrieve.
    • She regained control of herself
    • She found her voice and replied quickly
  17. verb succeed in reaching; arrive at
    • The arrow found its mark
  18. verb accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation
    find oneself.
    • My son went to Berkeley to find himself

WordNet

Find transitive verb
Etymology
AS. findan; akin to D. vinden, OS. & OHG. findan, G. finden, Dan. finde, icel. & Sw. finna, Goth. finan; and perh. to L. petere to seek, Gr. to fall, Skr. pat to fall, fly, E. petition.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Found ; present participle & verbal noun Finding
Definitions
  1. To meet with, or light upon, accidentally; to gain the first sight or knowledge of, as of something new, or unknown; hence, to fall in with, as a person.
    Searching the window for a flint, I found This paper, thus sealed up. Shak.
    In woods and forests thou art found. Cowley.
  2. To learn by experience or trial; to perceive; to experience; to discover by the intellect or the feelings; to detect; to feel. "I find you passing gentle." Shak.
    The torrid zone is now found habitable. Cowley.
  3. To come upon by seeking; as, to find something lost. (a) To discover by sounding; as, to find bottom. (b) To discover by study or experiment direct to an object or end; as, water is found to be a compound substance. (c) To gain, as the object of desire or effort; as, to find leisure; to find means. (d) To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.
    Seek, and ye shall find. Matt. vii. 7.
    Every mountain now hath found a tongue. Byron.
  4. To provide for; to supply; to furnish; as, to find food for workemen; he finds his nephew in money.
    Wages £14 and all found. London Times.
    Nothing a day and find yourself. Dickens.
  5. To arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish; as, to find a verdict; to find a true bill (of indictment) against an accused person.
    To find his title with some shows of truth. Shak.
Find intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. (Law) To determine an issue of fact, and to declare such a determination to a court; as, the jury find for the plaintiff. Burrill.
Find noun
Definitions
  1. Anything found; a discovery of anything valuable; especially, a deposit, discovered by archæologists, of objects of prehistoric or unknown origin.

Webster 1913