to drill down
- phrasal verb
- /drɪl daʊn/
- To improve our project, we need to drill down and examine the data more closely.
So I'll put on our miners cap here and then drill down on this.
- So I'll put on our miners cap here and then drill down on this.
- That we are committed to achieving and we are drilling down with exactly how we're going to achieve it.
- But if you really drill down, it's South of Mississippi in mentality in a lot of ways.
- This is the same with the black pill megtau incel movement too, that most guys, when you actually drill down and say, look, what's your experience like with women?
- We're only going to kind of scratch the surface in this, but there's a couple where I think we do have to drill down.
- And so something I sort of, I didn't discover this, but I sort of drilled down into it is that the source of our story is our protagonist dilemma.
Examples
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Part IV drills down and addresses issues covered by the Hague Principles that are perhaps most significant for Australian law.
Academic text (2018) -
The user is then able to "drill down" through the hierarchy until the desired file or information is found.
Academic text (1995) -
So I have two guys that are experts in the field and we're going to drill down and figure out what is best for you.
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So let's drill down and do some solution talk here and some solution stuff.
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Now, let's drill down on a plan.
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Well, let's drill down into stress a little bit more deeply.
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Now let's drill down a bit and look more specifically at the causes of neonatal death.
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If you really drill down into their lives and careers, all kinds of really cool insights emerge.
Blog text (19) -
I am able to examine situations from different perspectives and ask probing questions to drill down to the best solutions for the greater good.
Academic text (2015) -
Using these visuals, users can browse, drill down, and cross-drill dimensional data in a semantic model.
Blog text (33)
Synonyms
To study something carefully to understand it better
To separate something into smaller parts to explain or study it
To look at something carefully, often by searching under the surface
To study something closely by breaking it into parts, for example a text or idea
Search carefully to find hidden facts or details
To find the source of something by checking facts
To look into something more carefully to find hidden facts
To look closely at the small parts of a plan or report to understand it
To examine something carefully to find hidden details
How Deep
- Jargon
Surface Forms
Morphology
drill + down
The sense 'to examine/analyze more closely' is a metaphorical extension of literal 'drill' (to bore into) combined with 'down' (to a lower/deeper level), so knowing the parts gives a plausible clue. However, the analytical/technical sense is jargon-like and not fully predictable from the constituents for a B1 learner without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Drill down: The phrasal verb drill down comes from the image of using a drill to go down into the ground or wood to reach deeper layers. So, to drill down into information means 'to look more closely' at the smaller parts to understand them better.