drag out

phrasal verb

dragged out; dragging out; drags out

1

: to cause (something) to take more time than necessary

He dragged out the speech much too long.

2

: to force (something, such as a confession) from (someone) : to make (someone) tell one (something)

The teacher eventually dragged a confession out of one of the students.

Doctors sometimes have to drag information out of their patients.

Examples of drag out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And as Lillard’s experience in Portland showed, ripping off the Band-Aid immediately usually works better than dragging out the inevitable. —John Hollinger, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2025

Google is bound to appeal any decision to split Chrome from the rest of the company, potentially dragging out proceedings for years. —Barry Collins, Forbes.com, 24 Apr. 2025

Parts of season two and a large chunk of season three felt like the writers were just dragging out the narrative for far too long in the interest of keeping the show going for what creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson considered to be a five-season story arc. —Erin Qualey, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2025

And the Rams didn’t drag out the fate of Ahkello Witherspoon – who developed into their top corner late last season. —Adam Grosbard, Oc Register, 31 Mar. 2025

Rhymes for drag out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout