excavate vs dig

excavate is not a noun while dig is a noun.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
excavate	No	No	Yes	No
dig	Yes	No	Yes	No

As verbs, excavate and dig are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of excavate include hollow.

As verbs, dig is a hyponym of excavate; that is, dig is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than excavate:

Other hyponyms of excavate include dig out, dig up.

excavate (noun)	dig (noun)
	the act of digging
	the act of touching someone suddenly with your finger or elbow
	a small gouge (as in the cover of a book)
	an aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect
	the site of an archeological exploration

excavate (verb)	dig (verb)
find by digging in the ground	get the meaning of something
remove the inner part or the core of	turn up, loosen, or remove earth
form by hollowing	create by digging
recover through digging	remove the inner part or the core of
	poke or thrust abruptly
	thrust down or into
	remove, harvest, or recover by digging
	work hard