find meaning and definition

FIND noun

Definition of find (noun)

1. a productive insight
   • synonyms: breakthrough, discovery
2. the act of discovering something
   • synonyms: discovery, uncovering

FIND verb

Definition of find (verb)

1. come upon, as if by accident; meet with
   • "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"
   • synonyms: bump, chance, encounter, happen
2. discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of
   • "She detected high levels of lead in her drinking water"; "We found traces of lead in the paint"
   • synonyms: detect, discover, notice, observe
3. come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost
   • "Did you find your glasses?"; "I cannot find my gloves!"
   • synonyms: regain
   • antonym: lose
4. establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study
   • "find the product of two numbers"; "The physicist who found the elusive particle won the Nobel Prize"
   • synonyms: ascertain, determine, find out
5. come to believe on the basis of emotion, intuitions, or indefinite grounds
   • "I feel that he doesn't like me"; "I find him to be obnoxious"; "I found the movie rather entertaining"
   • synonyms: feel
6. perceive or be contemporaneous with
   • "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"
   • synonyms: see, witness
7. get something or somebody for a specific purpose
   • "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"
   • synonyms: come up, get hold, line up
8. make a discovery, make a new finding
   • "Roentgen discovered X-rays"; "Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle"
   • synonyms: discover
9. make a discovery
   • "She found that he had lied to her"; "The story is false, so far as I can discover"
   • synonyms: discover
10. 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"
11. decide on and make a declaration about
    • "find someone guilty"
    • synonyms: rule
12. receive a specified treatment (abstract)
    • "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"
    • synonyms: get, incur, obtain, receive
13. 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"
14. get or find back; recover the use of
    • "She regained control of herself"; "She found her voice and replied quickly"
    • synonyms: recover, regain, retrieve
15. succeed in reaching; arrive at
    • "The arrow found its mark"
16. accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation
    • "My son went to Berkeley to find himself"
    • synonyms: find oneself