How to use dig in a sentence
40 example sentences · verb, noun
Dig means to move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More generally, to make any similar hole by moving material out of the way. Example: “They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.”
Examples of dig by meaning
verbTo move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like...
- They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.
- In the wintertime, heavy truck tires dig into the road, forming potholes.
- If the plane can't pull out of the dive it is in, it'll dig a hole in the ground.
verbTo get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
- to dig potatoes
- to dig up gold
verbTo investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
- to dig up evidence
- to dig out the facts
- Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology.2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist
verbTo thrust; to poke.
- He dug an elbow into my ribs and guffawed at his own joke.
nounAny act of digging to find or retrieve something.
- Iron Springs offers a guided clam dig for first timers or those who are rusty at spotting the clam's show at low tide.2014, Karen Gaudette Brewer, Seafood Lover's Pacific Northwest, page 128
nounA thrust; a poke.
- He guffawed and gave me a dig in the ribs after telling his latest joke.
nounA cutting, sarcastic remark.
- But it does get in a few digs at Slánský, accusing him of having made mistakes in recruitment to the communist party.2012, Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56, page ccxcix
- Unfortunately, the man was too busy, although he said hello to the Young Man politely enough and found the time to make a few digs about the postponement of the elections.2013, William T. Vollmann, An Afghanistan Picture Show: Or, How I Saved the World
- She could have made a dig about the size of his rockets.2021 December 8, Arwa Mahdawi, “Elon Musk is learning a hard lesson: never date a musician”, in The Guardian
nounA rare or interesting vinyl record bought second-hand.
- a £1 charity shop dig
More sentences with dig
- They pulled me off the main crew and had me digging in the mill.From the entry mill
- Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig.From the entry tool
- Digging ditches has long been considered one of the most demanding forms of manual labor.From the entry ditch
- Rover stopped digging under the fence after we had the vet fix him.From the entry fix
- I need to dig a hole for these begonias; would you pass me that trowel?From the entry trowel
- With the weather turning colder, it was time to dig out our flannel sheets and nightclothes.From the entry flannel
- Dig plenty of compost into clay or sandy soil to improve its structure.From the entry compost
- He plans to hire somebody to do the grunt work of digging the trenches for the pipes.From the entry grunt work
- I wanted to say grace before dinner, but the kids were already digging in.From the entry dig in
- I've got to dig in for a couple of weeks to secure my promotion.From the entry dig in
- You'll have to dig up eight grand to pay for this.From the entry dig up
- The dig team unearthed a kylix at the site in Bergama.From the entry kylix
- The freelance investigative reporter made a career of digging up dirt on celebrities for tabloids.From the entry dig up dirt
- He's a mud monkey digging all-day, gathering clay for his sculpture.From the entry mud monkey
- Call before you dig — there is a gas line buried in the area.From the entry gas line
- Tillage in hoe-farming is done by simple manual tools such as digging sticks or hoes.From the entry hoe-farming
- It's gonna be expensive, so we'll have to dig down to pay for it.From the entry dig down
- Back then, the digging of sewers was done largely by day men with shovels and picks.From the entry day man
- Do some digging into that politician's past life and associates, and you'll see that the iceberg runs deep.From the entry iceberg
- If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.From the entry hole
- He really gave that digging some stick.From the entry stick
- The prisoners made their escape by digging a tunnel.From the entry escape
- Dig out a bowl in the ground.From the entry bowl
- I always start a book by reading the dustjacket and the contents before I really dig in to the content itself.From the entry contents
- At a glance it seems that he is a nice guy, but upon digging deeper the truth emerges.From the entry at a glance
Meaning of dig
- verb To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More generally, to make any similar hole by moving material out of the way.
- verb To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
- verb To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
Questions about dig in a sentence
- How do you use dig in a sentence?
- Dig is used as a verb and noun. For example: “They dug an eight-foot ditch along the side of the road.”
- What is a short sentence with dig?
- “to dig potatoes”
- What does dig mean?
- Dig means to move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More generally, to make any similar hole by moving material out of the way.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dig (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use dig in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/dig. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.