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Synonyms

exhume

American  
[ig-zoom, -zyoom, eks-hyoom] / ɪgˈzum, -ˈzyum, ɛksˈhyum /

verb (used with object)

exhumed, exhuming
  1. to dig (something buried, especially a dead body) out of the earth; disinter.

  2. to revive or restore after neglect or a period of forgetting; bring to light.

    to exhume a literary reputation; to exhume old letters.


exhume British  
/ ɛksˈhjuːm, ˌɛkshjʊˈmeɪʃən /

verb

  1. to dig up (something buried, esp a corpse); disinter

  2. to reveal; disclose; unearth

    don't exhume that old argument

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • exhumation noun
  • exhumer noun
  • unexhumed adjective

Etymology

Origin of exhume

1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin exhumāre, equivalent to Latin ex- ex- 1 + humāre to inter

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This is in addition to the voluminous effort spanning six nights and 12 hours that reasserts, among many truths, Burns’ dedication to exhuming the rocky facts buried underneath convenient mythmaking.

From Salon

Breaking for health tests, Ruci stayed there until October 7, when judicial authorities agreed to exhume his son's body for toxicology tests.

From Barron's

After leaving a floral offering for her great-grandfather, whose remains have yet to be exhumed, Lucia rests in her father's arms.

From Barron's

Someone who exhumed a recent interment without that knowledge might well have discovered something difficult to explain.

From The Wall Street Journal

One pathologist had traced a "highly toxic substance", cyhalothrin, on both the body's remains and the soil where his body was exhumed.

From BBC