verbs
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"
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"
come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost
"Did you find your glasses?"; "I cannot find my gloves!"
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"
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"
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"
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"
make a discovery, make a new finding
"Roentgen discovered X-rays"; "Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle"
make a discovery
"She found that he had lied to her"; "The story is false, so far as I can discover"
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"
verb group
come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost
"Did you find your glasses?"; "I cannot find my gloves!"
is a type of (narrower)
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
"She got a lot of paintings from her uncle"; "They acquired a new pet"; "Get your results the next day"; "Get permission to take a few days off from work"
decide on and make a declaration about
"find someone guilty"
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"
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"
verb group
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"
is a type of (narrower)
to become aware of through the senses
"I could perceive the ship coming over the horizon"
get or find back; recover the use of
"She regained control of herself"; "She found her voice and replied quickly"
succeed in reaching; arrive at
"The arrow found its mark"
is a type of (narrower)
reach a destination, either real or abstract
"We hit Detroit by noon"; "The water reached the doorstep"; "We barely made it to the finish line"; "I have to hit the MAC machine before the weekend starts"
accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation
"My son went to Berkeley to find himself"