find
     n 1: a productive insight [syn: {discovery}, {breakthrough}]
     2: the act of discovering something [syn: {discovery}, {uncovering}]
     v 1: 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" [syn: {happen},
           {chance}, {bump}, {encounter}]
     2: 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" [syn: {detect}, {observe},
         {discover}, {notice}]
     3: come upon after searching; find the location of something
        that was missed or lost; "Did you find your glasses?"; "I
        cannot find my gloves!" [syn: {regain}] [ant: {lose}]
     4: 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" [syn:
        {determine}, {find out}, {ascertain}]
     5: 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" [syn: {feel}]
     6: perceive or be contemporaneous with; "We found Republicans
        winning the offices"; "You'll see a lot of cheating in
        this school"; "I want to see results"; "The 1960 saw the
        rebellion of the younger generation against established
        traditions"; "I want to see results" [syn: {witness}, {see}]
     7: 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" [syn: {line up}, {get hold}, {come up}]
     8: make a discovery, make a new finding; "Roentgen discovered
        X-rays"; "Physicists believe they found a new elementary
        particle" [syn: {discover}]
     9: make a discovery; "She found that he had lied to her"; "The
        story is false, so far as I can discover" [syn: {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; "find someone
         guilty" [syn: {rule}]
     12: 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" [syn: {receive},
          {get}, {obtain}, {incur}]
     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; "She regained control
         of herself"; "She found her voice and replied quickly"
         [syn: {recover}, {retrieve}, {regain}]
     15: succeed in reaching; arrive at; "The arrrow found its mark"
     16: accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and
         situation; "My son went to Berkeley to find himself"
         [syn: {find oneself}]
     [also: {found}]
Source: WordNet® 2.0