find in WordNet English dictionary

1. 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"
   determine  find  find out  ascertain 
   
2. 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"
   find  happen  chance  bump  encounter 
   
3. 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"
   line up  get hold  come up  find 
   
4. 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"
   detect  observe  find  discover  notice 
   
5. make a discovery
   "She found that he had lied to her"; "The story is false, so far as I can discover"
   discover  find 
   
6. make a discovery, make a new finding
   "Roentgen discovered X-rays"; "Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle"
   discover  find 
   
7. 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"
   find  feel 
   
8. 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"
   receive  get  find  obtain  incur 
   
9. accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation
   "My son went to Berkeley to find himself"
   find oneself  find 
   
10. decide on and make a declaration about
    "find someone guilty"
    rule  find 
    
11. succeed in reaching; arrive at
    "The arrow found its mark"
    find 
    
12. 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"
    witness  find  see 
    
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"
    find 
    
14. come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost
    "Did you find your glasses?"; "I cannot find my gloves!"
    find  regain 
    
15. 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"
    find 
    
16. get or find back; recover the use of
    "She regained control of herself"; "She found her voice and replied quickly"
    recover  retrieve  find  regain 
    

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