noun
exploration
ek-spluh-RAY-shun/ˌekspləˈreɪʃn/
The act of investigating something unknown to discover or understand it.
The explorer's headlamp guides an exploration of the branching cave.
Etymology
The Latin base meant investigating or examining. Exploration applies that examination to discovery: searching an unfamiliar country is one form of the same activity as investigating an unfamiliar subject.
In context
a decisive advantage in exploration. Its shallow draft let it sail close to shore, enter river [music] mouths, and scrape over sandbars and reefs that would tear open the hull of a larger vessel, probing an unfamiliar coastline
More examples
- Several explorations revealed new passages.
- She began an exploration of the topic.
- The project encouraged exploration.
Forms
exploration · explorations
explore verb — investigate or travel through something unfamiliar
Similar words
- investigation
- Systematic inquiry into a particular question.
- discovery
- Finding something rather than the process of searching.