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

Nuno's promotion drive at Wolves was led by Ruben Neves and loan signings including Diogo Jota.

From BBC ● May 27, 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

And even when you drive at high speed, the hills that mark the boundaries recede before you.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

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