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.

See Examples For:

drive at

Briny fluids likely helped drive at least some of that chemistry.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

Michael Whitaker used to drive at an average of 65 miles an hour to 68 mph, hauling heavy equipment between Iowa, Maryland, Georgia and the Carolinas.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

Michael Olise often burst towards the ball, receiving it under minimal pressure, able to turn and drive at the heart of the defence with momentum.

From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026

“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

“You can’t write and drive at the same time,” Miss Volker said to me, “so I guess we’ll skip the history at the end of the obituary.”

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos

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