drive at

British

verb

informal (intr, preposition) to intend or mean

what are you driving at?

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

drive at Idioms

Mean to do or say, as in I don't understand what he's driving at. Today this idiom, first recorded in 1579, is used mainly with the participle driving.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“But we are aiming for that level four autonomy, where you don’t have to drive at all.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

This would drive massive route-density economics, and could drive at least $500 million in synergies for both companies.

From Barron's • Jan. 16, 2026

Some officers will undergo a one-day course in responding to emergency calls in police vans, while others will spend three days being shown how to drive at the start of a pursuit.

From BBC • Jan. 7, 2026

Then came Harry Brook's brain fade when set on 31 - flaying a wild drive at pink-ball maestro Mitchell Starc to second slip in the twilight.

From BBC • Dec. 20, 2025

“We’re organizing a petition drive at War Memorial Stadium this Sunday. People will be able to just drive up, sign the petition and go on their way.”

From "The Lions of Little Rock" by Kristin Levine

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023