drag out

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

Denial of a broadcast license renewal is extremely rare, and is a process that can drag out for years. —Ted Johnson, Deadline, 28 May 2026

Such behavior drags out court proceedings, drives up costs, and erodes trust in lawyers, Chen said. —Ethan Baron, Mercury News, 27 May 2026

The world can’t wait much longer for the strait to return to normal, but dragging out talks helps normalize Iran’s de facto control, ISW noted in a separate report. —Jason Ma, Fortune, 24 May 2026

The disputes, which began last year, have dragged out for an unusually long time and left thousands of people locked out of in-network care at the public hospital systems. —Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 6 May 2026

Rhymes for drag out

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