drag out

phrasal verb

dragged out; dragging out; drags out

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

He dragged out the speech much too long.

: 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 Drink 'all the Milwaukee beer humanly possible' Fearing the breweries were dragging out negotiations to stockpile more beer, union members on May 13, 1953, voted overwhelmingly — 6,652 to 108 — to strike. —

Chris Foran, Journal Sentinel, 8 May 2024 Here, union hopes have been raised, dashed and dragged out over years. —

Stephan Bisaha, NPR, 6 May 2024 There is no evidence that Mr. Biden has sought to drag out the cases. —

Linda Qiu, New York Times, 17 Apr. 2024 That argument looks increasingly self-serving the longer the war drags out. —

Bret Stephens, The Mercury News, 11 Apr. 2024 The effort to drag out the Manhattan case until after the Supreme Court addressed the immunity issue seemed particularly far-fetched. —

William K. Rashbaum, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024 Securing compensation for victims of such white-collar crimes can drag out for years. —

Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 1 Apr. 2024 An alternative strategy, which Democrats are already predicting, is that House Oversight Chairman James Comer and his Republican colleagues, who have led the congressional investigation into the Bidens, will drag out the inquiry. —

Erica Brown, CBS News, 28 Feb. 2024 Others are simply upset at the way the whole process has dragged out. —

Lisa Mascaro, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'drag out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.