as in searched
to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something
I've been dredging my memory bank, and I simply can't remember her name
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Recent Examples of dredged
The company also dredged the Batiquitos Lagoon at the border of Carlsbad and Encinitas in the winter of 2023 to maintain a restoration completed there in the mid-1990s.
—
Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Mar. 2026
Clearly, her absurd office dredged its barrenness from her.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
In the film, Emma Stone's Bella Baxter is dredged from the river after dying by suicide, then reanimated by Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), possessing the body of a woman and the brain of a baby.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Jan. 2026
The item will then be dredged and lifted from the water so researchers can attempt to identify it.
—CBS News, 17 Nov. 2025
Soaked in a meaty mushroom stock, dredged in flour, and dunked in buttermilk, these crispy, tender mushrooms are extra delicious.
—Mary Alice Russell, Southern Living, 22 Oct. 2025
Other fresh fish were lightly dredged in flour, fried, baked, and then garnished with parsley and black walnuts.
—Victoria Flexner, The Atlantic, 9 Oct. 2025
All that was left to do was promote it, in a way he hasn’t been asked to do in years, and to wait and see how millions of viewers react to a story dredged out of horror-story reimaginings into something aiming for plainspoken truth.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 30 Sep. 2025
Colombia could have avoided the specter of a landlocked Leticia had dredged the smaller branch of the Amazon River that now flows past the town.
—John Otis, NPR, 7 Sep. 2025
Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Mar. 2026
Clearly, her absurd office dredged its barrenness from her.
—Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
In the film, Emma Stone's Bella Baxter is dredged from the river after dying by suicide, then reanimated by Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), possessing the body of a woman and the brain of a baby.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Jan. 2026
The item will then be dredged and lifted from the water so researchers can attempt to identify it.
—CBS News, 17 Nov. 2025
Soaked in a meaty mushroom stock, dredged in flour, and dunked in buttermilk, these crispy, tender mushrooms are extra delicious.
—Mary Alice Russell, Southern Living, 22 Oct. 2025
Other fresh fish were lightly dredged in flour, fried, baked, and then garnished with parsley and black walnuts.
—Victoria Flexner, The Atlantic, 9 Oct. 2025
All that was left to do was promote it, in a way he hasn’t been asked to do in years, and to wait and see how millions of viewers react to a story dredged out of horror-story reimaginings into something aiming for plainspoken truth.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 30 Sep. 2025
Colombia could have avoided the specter of a landlocked Leticia had dredged the smaller branch of the Amazon River that now flows past the town.
—John Otis, NPR, 7 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dredged
Verb
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As Pivetta searched for his accuracy in the first inning, neither the former reliever Stammen nor pitching coach Ruben Niebla had success in getting the righty on track.—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Mar. 2026
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State police later searched the area near the steel bridge and found among the piles of wood chips an envelope bearing the victim’s name, pieces of bone and tissue, a human fingernail and crowns to the victim’s teeth, prosecutors said.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Its founding principles—informed by an environmentally-conscious ethos and values which ‘protect the islands, support local communities, and do business in a…fair and future-focused way,’ says Dixon—mirrored those at Nikoi, and still hold strong today.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
31 Mar. 2026
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And the three who founded it in 1998 ran two unlicensed boarding schools in Missouri that have since been closed amid abuse allegations.—
Judy L. Thomas,
Kansas City Star,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Yet this is also the same company that ripped the spine off millions of books, scanned their pages, and fed the text into Claude’s training data.—
Matteo Wong,
The Atlantic,
25 Mar. 2026
-
In August last year, McGrath scanned Ralph's brain using an MRI machine.—
Will Croxton,
CBS News,
22 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Because Buckley has short hair, a chignon or updo was not an option—but combed neatly back with a side part, clearing the face, feels like a very Grace Kelly detail.—
Ana Serrano,
Glamour,
16 Mar. 2026
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Police also covered the lake in those first few hours, and dogs and drones have combed the area to no avail.—
Sarah Dahlberg,
NBC news,
16 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Police say Ortiz raked Rihanna’s Beverly Crest property with an assault rifle, striking an Airstream trailer on the property, the singer’s home and a neighbor’s home.—
James Queally,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Mar. 2026
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Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power Saturday after high winds raked eastward from the Great Lakes region, leaving trees down and substantial property damage in their wake.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
15 Mar. 2026
Verb
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During his visit, Willick had gone to the site of the attack and surveyed the ruins, which were strewn with children’s drawings and broken crayons.—
Eyal Press,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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Armstrong was surveyed and platted in 1871 by a representative of the Kansas Pacific Railway Company.—
Elijah Winkler,
Kansas City Star,
29 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dredged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dredged. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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