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Synonyms

drive at

British  

verb

  1. 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  
  1. 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:

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

“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

Equally, these statistics don't tell us whether some people are choosing not to drive at night and nor do they account for other changes in driver behaviour.

From BBC Feb. 18, 2026

“Well, you notice the teacher don’t always call on somebody with his hand up. She lets drive at the others and, sure enough, they don’t know.”

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

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