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Glite Dictionary
🛠️ To remove 🗣️ To encourage talking ⏳ To make longer
to draw out

to draw out

12 3.8
Help a quiet person speak more in a group
  • phrasal verb
  • /drɔː aʊt/
translation icon : sacar
  • Lucy is funny; she plays dumb and can draw information out of people in the sweetest, most innocent way.
  • questions designed to draw out
  • draw out implications
  • designed to draw out

I'm very drawn to people who are hard to draw out.

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Examples

  • He wants me to draw you out.

    Altered States (1980)

  • You ask the questions to draw them out, you give them the platform to speak.

  • Listen, I can draw him out.

    Halloween II (2009)

  • You can draw him out.

    Borderline (2002)

  • Several times, Anna tried to draw her out, but the younger woman was obviously too upset to discuss it.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The social worker draws Mrs. O. out and asks about those details of her life.

    Academic text (1997)

  • It would please me now to draw you out, to learn more of you.

    Jane Eyre (1943)

  • Productive questions are those that draw out usable evidence and lead to the careful evaluation of this evidence.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Because differing opinions were welcome, almost encouraged, the magazine had a way of drawing out passionate criticism of current educational trends.

    Academic text (2006)

  • To help her feel more comfortable, he tried to draw out her thoughts during the conversation.

Synonyms

to bring out
vsto draw out
38 2.9

Help someone become more confident and show their abilities

encourages someone to speak more and be more sociable

Antonyms

to discourage
257 3.5

To try to stop something by making people less willing to do it

to silence
169 3.5

To stop someone from speaking or making noise

How Talkative

to provoke
144 3.6
to elicit
  • Formal
40 5.3
to draw out
12 3.8
to encourage
∞ 2.3
to prompt
16 4.0

Surface Forms

draw out infinitive
drawing out present participle
draws out third person singular
drew out past
drawn out past participle

Morphology

draw + out

The sense 'to make something last longer' is a metaphorical extension of the spatial idea of 'drawing/pulling out' in time, so a learner who knows 'draw' (pull) and 'out' (outward) can often infer a prolonging meaning. However the mapping is figurative and the verb also has related senses (e.g. 'to elicit'), so the exact meaning and usage are not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Draw out comes from the idea of draw meaning to pull and out meaning away, like gently pulling a shy person's words out of them. So it means 'to encourage someone to speak more'.