Exploration Oil ˌekspləˈreɪʃn Space Noun Budgets Cut Back

• budgets for space exploration have been cut back.
• oil exploration (= searching for oil in the ground)
• lewis and clark's exploration of the vast uncharted area of the north-west
• these findings merit further exploration.

exploration

1. the act of travelling through a place in order to find out about it or look for something in it
• Budgets for space exploration have been cut back.
• oil exploration (= searching for oil in the ground)
• Lewis and Clark's exploration of the vast uncharted area of the north-west

Extra Examples

• the exploration of space
• Exploration activity slowed during the 1970s.
• Extensive exploration was carried out using the latest drilling technology.
• speculative exploration for oil
• Mineral exploration is continuing throughout the area.
• The ship is designed for deep space exploration.
• Interest developed in the scientific exploration of the sea.
• Much of a child's play is concerned with the exploration of his/her environment.
• This was the time of Humboldt's explorations in South America.
• Cook charted the coast of New Zealand on his first voyage of exploration.
2. an examination of something in order to find out about it
• These findings merit further exploration.
• the book’s explorations of the human mind

Extra Examples

• My ideas needed more careful exploration.
• creative exploration of music as a medium in education
• her personal exploration of spirituality

Word Origin

• mid 16th cent. (denoting an investigation): from French, or from Latin exploratio(n-), from the verb explorare ‘search out’, from ex- ‘out’ + plorare ‘utter a cry’. The current sense dates from the early 19th cent.