grubbed

Pulled from soil

Grubbed is the past tense of grub, meaning to dig or root around in the earth.

To grub up or grub out is to clear land by digging out roots and stumps: They grubbed the field before planting.

By extension, grubbing means searching laboriously: She grubbed through old files looking for the contract.

dug

excavated

Dug up systematically

burrowed · tunneled · scooped · hollowed · gouged · trenched · dredged · foraged · scratched · pawed

cleared

uprooted

Removed from foundation

  • stumpsCut tree bases
  • rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
  • weedsUnwanted wild plants

brush · vegetation · stubbed · pulled · extracted · ripped · torn · removed · shrubs · brambles

toiled

labored

Requiring great exertion

slogged · worked · struggled · strained · plodded · persevered · exerted · ground · plugged · grafted

Opposites
removal vs. establishment of plants/roots

grubbedplanted

Put into ground

sowed · seeded · cultivated · transplanted · established

digging up vs. burying/covering

grubbedburied

Placed beneath earth

interred · covered · filled in · backfilled · concealed

searching behavior

grubbedignored

Purposely not noticed

overlooked · neglected · disregarded · abandoned · passed over

Phrases
Family

grubby, grubbing, grubber

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Top 500,000
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Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G