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
Others were caught, and were dragged out of their cars.
—
Jack Guy, CNN Money, 23 Feb. 2026
But Kramer was outside the government, with friends dying, blisteringly aware of the ways in which the official instinct toward bureaucracy was dragging out a scientific process that needed to be moving at, to quote a more modern enterprise, warp speed.
—Talya Zax, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2026
Poor, helpless people are being dragged out of their homes.
—Claudia Levens, jsonline.com, 6 Feb. 2026
Doors are being smashed and old men dragged out of bed.
—Dr. Michael Good, Hartford Courant, 3 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for drag out
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Jack Guy, CNN Money, 23 Feb. 2026
But Kramer was outside the government, with friends dying, blisteringly aware of the ways in which the official instinct toward bureaucracy was dragging out a scientific process that needed to be moving at, to quote a more modern enterprise, warp speed.
—Talya Zax, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2026
Poor, helpless people are being dragged out of their homes.
—Claudia Levens, jsonline.com, 6 Feb. 2026
Doors are being smashed and old men dragged out of bed.
—Dr. Michael Good, Hartford Courant, 3 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for drag out
Cite this Entry
“Drag out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drag%20out. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.
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