n.

1. a productive insight;
   discovery, breakthrough
2. the act of discovering something;
   discovery, uncovering

v.

1. come upon, as if by accident; meet with;
   happen, chance, bump, encounter
   
   • 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. discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of;
   detect, observe, discover, notice
   
   • She detected high levels of lead in her drinking water
   • We found traces of lead in the paint
3. come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost;
   regain
   
   • Did you find your glasses?
   • I cannot find my gloves!
4. establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study;
   determine, find out, ascertain
   
   • find the product of two numbers
   • The physicist who found the elusive particle won the Nobel Prize
5. come to believe on the basis of emotion, intuitions, or indefinite grounds;
   feel
   
   • I feel that he doesn't like me
   • I find him to be obnoxious
   • I found the movie rather entertaining
6. perceive or be contemporaneous with;
   witness, see
   
   • 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. get something or somebody for a specific purpose;
   line up, get hold, come up
   
   • 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. make a discovery, make a new finding;
   discover
   
   • Roentgen discovered X-rays
   • Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle
9. make a discovery;
   discover
   
   • She found that he had lied to her
   • The story is false, so far as I can discover
10. 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. decide on and make a declaration about;
    rule
    
    • find someone guilty
12. receive a specified treatment (abstract);
    receive, get, obtain, incur
    
    • 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. 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. get or find back; recover the use of;
    recover, retrieve, regain
    
    • She regained control of herself
    • She found her voice and replied quickly
15. succeed in reaching; arrive at
    
    • The arrow found its mark
16. accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation;
    find oneself
    
    • My son went to Berkeley to find himself