What does "digger" mean?
A large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches.
Digger
/ˈdɪɡɚ/ noun, slang
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches.
- Grammar: digger is listed as noun, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: excavator, agrarian radical, archaeologist, backhoe.
- Usage evidence: Idiot! She's not being honest when she says she loves you. Haven't you figured it out yet? She's just a gold digger.
How to use "digger"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "digger" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "digger" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "digger" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "digger" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "digger" is acting as noun, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "excavator" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "digger", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A large piece of machinery that digs holes or trenches.
"The cables are placed from 16 in. to 2 ft. down, and to save time and labour use was made of a mechanical digger lent by the Swedish State Railways."
- 2 A soldier from Australia or New Zealand.
- 3 A user of the American news aggregator Digg. Internet
"THANKS TO DIGG, the Web’s most frequented news-ranking site, we now know: Geeks like gaming gossip, incendiary technology policy stories, and NASA photos. Diggers vote early and often, and can get breaking news to the front page surprisingly quickly."
- 4 a machine for excavating wordnet
- 5 A tool for digging.
"The post hole digger did look ancient. I was pretty certain myself that it hadn′t dug any holes for a long, long time."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 One of a group of Protestant English agrarian communists, begun by Gerrard Winstanley as "True Levellers" in 1649. historical
- 7 a laborer who digs wordnet
- 8 A spade (playing card). slang
- 9 One of a degraded tribe of California Native Americans who dug up roots for food. derogatory, obsolete
- 10 One who digs.
"You′ve tried the supposedly sure method of squirting the digger with water from a hose, and that hasn′t worked.[…]This step will discourage 99 percent of the diggers."
- 11 A gold miner, one who digs for gold. Australia, obsolete
"A successful Australian digger — successful, not merely in siftings and washings, but bearing the title, and its best credentials, of a “nuggetter” − came down from Forest Creek recently and took up his abode in a low lodging-house in Little Bourke Street, Melbourne."
- 12 An Australian soldier. Australia, informal
"Costume played a key part in his differentiation from British soldiers as the Digger uniform came to embody Australian versions of masculinity and mateship."
- 13 a friendly term of address, especially to a man. Australia, broadly, dated
- 14 A member of any Native American people in the western United States, especially Native Californians. US, dated, ethnic, offensive, slang, slur, vulgar
"White men are not usually hanged for killing Chinamen, but Indians who commit such a crime are strung up with little ceremony. Last week a Digger was hung at Jackson, Amador county, for having last summer murdered some Chinamen at Rancheria."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Idiot! She's not being honest when she says she loves you. Haven't you figured it out yet? She's just a gold digger."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "digger"?
Common synonyms include: excavator, agrarian radical, archaeologist, backhoe, backhoes, communalist.
How do you use "digger" in a sentence?
Idiot! She's not being honest when she says she loves you. Haven't you figured it out yet? She's just a gold digger.
How do you pronounce "digger"?
Pronounced /ˈdɪɡɚ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English dyggar, equivalent to dig + -er. In the sense of "Australian soldier", attributed to the considerable time that soldiers spent digging trenches during World War I.
Etymology 2
* Derived from Australian Colonial goldfields terminology. The term represents the mateship of common interests and activities where most of the population were gold miners, and almost everybody was a mate, a "digger", with a common cause against the troopers, the traps, the mining license inspectors.
Etymology 3
From Digg + -er.