put out feelers vs explore

put out feelers and explore both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
put out feelers	No	No	Yes	No
explore	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, explore is a hypernym of put out feelers; that is, explore is a word with a broader meaning than put out feelers:

put out feelers (verb)	explore (verb)
make some preliminary investigations or test the waters	inquire into
	travel to or penetrate into
	inquire into a subject in detail
	examine (organs) for diagnostic purposes