"finding" in the noun sense
1. determination, finding
the act of determining the properties of something, usually by research or calculation
"the determination of molecular structures"
2. finding
the decision of a court on issues of fact or law
3. finding
something that is found
"the findings in the gastrointestinal tract indicate that he died several hours after dinner"
"an area rich in archaeological findings"
"finding" in the verb sense
1. find, happen, chance, bump, encounter
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"
2. 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"
3. find, regain
come upon after searching find the location of something that was missed or lost
"Did you find your glasses?"
"I cannot find my gloves!"
4. determine, find, find out, ascertain
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"
5. find, feel
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"
6. witness, find, see
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"
7. line up, get hold, come up, find
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"
8. discover, find
make a discovery, make a new finding
"Roentgen discovered X-rays"
"Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle"
9. discover, find
make a discovery
"She found that he had lied to her"
"The story is false, so far as I can discover"
10. find
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. rule, find
decide on and make a declaration about
"find someone guilty"
12. receive, get, find, obtain, incur
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"
13. find
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. recover, retrieve, find, regain
get or find back recover the use of
"She regained control of herself"
"She found her voice and replied quickly"
15. find
succeed in reaching arrive at
"The arrow found its mark"
16. find oneself, find
accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation
"My son went to Berkeley to find himself"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.
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