What does unearth mean?
Word: Unearth
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Unearth means to find something by digging in the ground; also to discover something that was hidden, lost or forgotten.
Synonyms: dig up, discover, uncover
Word origin: Formed in English in the 1400s with the sense 'to dig up out of the ground'; the meaning 'to discover a hidden fact' came later.
How do you spell unearth?
Syllables: un - earth
Tricky part: The 'er' sound is spelt ear, as in early and search, so unerth and unurth are wrong.
Watch out for: unerth, unurth, unirth
Memory tip: Picture someone pressing an ear to the ground, listening for buried treasure: e-a-r sits in the middle of unearth.
Unearth in a sentence
Example 1: While planting a mango sapling, Dev unearthed an old brass coin.
Example 2: The librarian unearthed a hundred-year-old map of our town in a dusty cupboard.
Example 3: Our class project aims to unearth stories about how our grandparents went to school.
Fun Fact
In 1974 farmers digging a well in China unearthed the first pieces of the Terracotta Army, thousands of life-size clay figures made more than 2,000 years ago.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Fusion
Which two parts join to make a new word?
1. ful 2. un 3. ment 4. earth 5. mis 6. ness
a) 2 and 6
b) 1 and 3
c) 5 and 4
d) 2 and 4
Show answer
d) 2 and 4. Un and earth make unearth; none of the other offered pairs makes a word.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with the correct options:
1. unearth 2. scarce 3. modest a. boastful b. plentiful c. bury
a) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
b) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
c) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
d) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
Show answer
b) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a. To unearth is to dig up what was buried; scarce means far from plentiful, and a modest person is never boastful.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
At Lothal in Gujarat, archaeologists unearthed clay toys, beeds and bits of jewelery from a town thousands of years old.
a) 2
b) 1
c) 0
d) 3
Show answer
a) 2. Beads is spelt with ea, and the British spelling is jewellery; two words are wrong.
Word Champ
Read the three statements and choose the correct option:
1. To unearth something is to find it by digging or searching. 2. Earthworms help keep soil healthy by mixing it as they move. 3. Earthenwear is pottery made of baked clay.
a) all three are true
b) only 2 and 3 are true
c) only 1 and 2 are true
d) only 1 is true
Show answer
c) only 1 and 2 are true. Statement 3 misspells earthenware, which ends in -ware, as in software and hardware.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A reporter who unearths a forgotten letter has ___.
a) thrown something into the bin
b) copied something very carefully
c) written something brand new
d) found something that was hidden
Show answer
d) found something that was hidden
2. The adjective unearthly describes something that is ___.
a) deep underground
b) made of mud
c) strange and mysterious
d) very cheap
Show answer
c) strange and mysterious
