"discovering" in the verb sense
1. detect, observe, find, discover, notice
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"
2. learn, hear, get word, get wind, pick up, find out, get a line, discover, see
get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
"I learned that she has two grown-up children"
"I see that you have been promoted"
3. discover, find
make a discovery, make a new finding
"Roentgen discovered X-rays"
"Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle"
4. discover, find
make a discovery
"She found that he had lied to her"
"The story is false, so far as I can discover"
5. fall upon, strike, come upon, light upon, chance upon, come across, chance on, happen upon, attain, discover
find unexpectedly
"the archeologists chanced upon an old tomb"
"she struck a goldmine"
"The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake"
6. unwrap, disclose, let on, bring out, reveal, discover, expose, divulge, break, give away, let out, uncover
make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
"The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold"
"The actress won't reveal how old she is"
"bring out the truth"
"he broke the news to her"
"unwrap the evidence in the murder case"
"The newspaper uncovered the President's illegal dealings"
7. discover
see for the first time make a discovery
"Who discovered the North Pole?"
8. identify, discover, key, key out, distinguish, describe, name
identify as in botany or biology, for example
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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