to drag down
29
4.0
- phrasal verb
:
arrastrar
- Martin Durkin's film shows how our vast national debt is dragging the UK down.
- dragged down the stairs
- dragged me down the hall
- dragging him down a flight
I draw quite a thick line and I kind of drag it down because it gives me really defined brows.
- I draw quite a thick line and I kind of drag it down because it gives me really defined brows.
- So I'm going to take this piece and I'm going to drag my fingers down and bring it to the front and then just cut.
- OK, so this I'm just dragging it down my neck a little bit to make it nice and even.
- You pull it up and you drag it down into him and you stab him and you're like, die, bastard, die.
Examples
-
I had to drag him down here as it is.
-
And I should not have dragged down you and your hard work along with it.
-
But it's not fair to drag Nova down while you do.
-
Losers pretty much give up all hope of success, and worse, they drag others down with them.
Blog text (16) -
And I think these kinds of things all drag down the Obama campaign.
Blog text (3) -
You're letting them drag you down to their level.
Fiction book (2002) -
Yes, but when you lose, it just sticks with you and it drags you down and it tries to pull you under.
-
He gave me a "C," which drags down my entire average.
-
Leave it to Norris to drag everyone down to the seaport.
Fiction book (1994) -
The negative comments from her peers began to drag down her self-esteem.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To move something toward you using force, often to remove it
802
1.0
Make something go down in position, amount, or strength
180
2.0
Move something slowly from a higher to a lower position
39
1.8
To move something from a high place to a lower place
18
2.5
To push something down with force to make it flat or close it
16
2.0
Make something move down by using force
8
2.2
Push something down using your hand or weight
5
3.2
To bring something or someone down from a higher place
4
3.9
To press a button or key down
4
4.1
To make someone or something heavy by giving them more to carry
4
3.6
Make something heavier so it bends or sinks
1
5.3
Press something down firmly to make it more compact
To hang lower because of weight or loss of support
Antonyms
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to pull something downward' follows directly from combining 'drag' (to pull) with 'down' (toward a lower position), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the MWE meaning. This verb + particle motion construction is a common, compositional pattern in English (and similar in many languages), making it immediately transparent to learners.
Etymology
The phrasal verb drag down comes from the simple picture of a heavy thing being pulled toward the ground: drag means 'to pull' and down means toward the ground, like wet clothes that make a washing line sag. So it means 'to pull something down' or 'cause it to move lower'.