What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Discover vs Trace - What's the difference?

discover | trace |

In transitive obsolete terms the difference between discover and trace

is that discover is to reconnoitre, explore (an area) while trace is to walk over; to pass through; to traverse.

As a proper noun Discover

is Discover Card, a brand of credit card.

As a noun trace is

an act of tracing.

discover

English

Alternative forms

* discovre (obsolete)

Verb

(en verb)
  • (obsolete) To remove the cover from; to uncover (a head, building etc.).
  • To expose, uncover.
  • :
  • (chess) To create by moving a piece out of another piece's line of attack.
  • :
  • (archaic) To reveal (information); to divulge, make known.
  • :
  • *Shakespeare
  • *:Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover / The several caskets to this noble prince.
  • *Francis Bacon
  • *:Prosperity doth best discover' vice; but adversity doth best ' discover virtue.
  • (obsolete) To reconnoitre, explore (an area).
  • *, Bk.V, ch.ix:
  • *:they seyde the same, and were aggreed that Sir Clegis, Sir Claryon, and Sir Clement the noble, that they sholde dyscover the woodys, bothe the dalys and the downys.
  • To find or learn something for the first time.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=All this has led to an explosion of protest across China, including among a middle class that has discovered nimbyism.}}
  • (obsolete) To manifest without design; to show; to exhibit.
  • *C. J. Smith
  • *:The youth discovered a taste for sculpture.
  • *1806 , Alexander Hunter, Culina Famulatrix Medicinæ , p.125:
  • *:The English Cooks keep all their Spices in separate boxes, but the French Cooks make a spicey mixture that does not discover a predominancy of any one of the spices over the others.

    • Synonyms

    * (expose something previously covered) expose, reveal, uncover * (find something for the first time) come across, find

    Antonyms

    * (expose something previously covered) conceal, cover, cover up, hide

    Derived terms

    * discovery * discovered attack * discovered check

    See also

    * invent * detect * find * stumble upon

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words

    trace

    English

    (wikipedia trace)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) trace, traas, from (etyl) , from the verb (see below).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of tracing.
  • A mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal.
  • A very small amount.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=7 citation , passage=The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.}}
  • (electronics) An electric current-carrying conductive pathway on a printed circuit board.
  • An informal road or prominent path in an arid area.
  • One of two straps, chains, or ropes of a harness, extending from the collar or breastplate to a whippletree attached to a vehicle or thing to be drawn; a tug.
  • (fortification) The ground plan of a work or works.
  • The intersection of a plane of projection, or an original plane, with a coordinate plane.
  • (mathematics) The sum of the diagonal elements of a square matrix.
    • Derived terms
    * downtrace, uptrace
    Synonyms
    * (mark left as a sign of passage of a person or animal) track, trail * (small amount) see also .

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) tracen, from (etyl) tracer, .

    Verb

  • To follow the trail of.
  • * Milton
    • I feel thy power to trace the ways / Of highest agents.
    (Cowper)
  • To follow the history of.
  • * T. Burnet
    • You may trace the deluge quite round the globe.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=July 19 , author=Ella Davies , title=Sticks insects survive one million years without sex , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=They traced the ancient lineages of two species to reveal the insects' lengthy history of asexual reproduction.}}
  • To draw or sketch lightly or with care.
    • He carefully traced the outlines of the old building before him.
  • To copy onto a sheet of paper superimposed over the original, by drawing over its lines.
  • (obsolete) To copy; to imitate.
  • * Denham
    • That servile path thou nobly dost decline, / Of tracing word, and line by line.
  • (obsolete) To walk; to go; to travel.
  • * Spenser
    • Not wont on foot with heavy arms to trace .
  • (obsolete) To walk over; to pass through; to traverse.
  • * Shakespeare
    • We do trace this alley up and down.
    Related terms
    * tracing

    Anagrams

    * * * * * ----