test-drive
Americanverb (used with object)
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test-drives,
present (3rd person singular)
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test-drove,
past
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test-driven,
past participle
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test-driving
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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test-drivesimple
-
test-drivessimple
-
have test-drivenperfect
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has test-drivenperfect
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am test-drivingprogressive
-
are test-drivingprogressive
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is test-drivingprogressive
-
have been test-drivingperfect progressive
-
has been test-drivingperfect progressive
Past
-
test-drovesimple
-
had test-drivenperfect
-
was test-drivingprogressive
-
were test-drivingprogressive
-
had been test-drivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of test-drive
First recorded in 1945–50
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:
But despite offering a potential buyer the opportunity to test-drive the dwelling as a tenant, it appeared nobody took that bait as he later lowered both the rental and buying asking price.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 13, 2026
Proton VPN is perfect for privacy purists and anyone who wants to test-drive a VPN without dropping cash.
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2026
Baker said Hasbro hasn’t licensed a game from a child, but many of its inventors test-drive creations on their own children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Head over to Edmunds to see the full list of winners and runners-up and then go test-drive them for yourself and see if you agree with our picks.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
“I wanted to test-drive our new ‘browse’ function.”
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
He moved here from Southern California more than a decade ago, trading life by the beach for a five-acre plot where he runs an off-roading school and test-drives motorcycles for manufacturers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
The former reality star is energized by performing in front of his audiences and often test-drives new material and talking points to see how they resonate with the crowd.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 25, 2021
He golfs, test-drives a rare DeLorean, and is emotionally transported by a whiskey shot that costs 75 pounds.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2013
Of course Roche has a Cadillac, but he often test-drives a different car home from the production lines.
From Time Magazine Archive
Forest Service in the name of anyone who test-drives a Datsun up to Oct.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Journal’s Dan Neil just test-drove a flying car.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2025
Hudson added that when he was starting out he test-drove the more popular Hammond B-3 organ, but he was drawn to a model made by a smaller company, Lowrey.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2025
During a July solo appearance at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, Lowe test-drove four of the album’s tracks, including “Love Starvation,” “Blue on Blue,” “Trombone,” and “Tokyo Bay.”
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2024
Pirnot test-drove the text-to-speech idea with a short podcast monologue.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
Samuel Bankman-Fried, in the thick of an argument what SBF should be allowed to testify about under oath, instead test-drove those hypothetical arguments in a courtroom without a jury, for Judge Lewis Kaplan to evaluate?
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2023
For now, the technology is being test-driven on a “population that can afford it,” says Dr. Julie Chen, chief medical officer for Radence, which uses AI to help sift through clinical studies.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
The company’s slick online-buying experience proved that plenty of car shoppers were willing to fork over tens of thousands of dollars for a vehicle they hadn’t seen in person or test-driven.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Havens has already test-driven the console in new work with Carsten Elsner, a mathematician at the University of Applied Sciences for Economics in Hannover, Germany.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 2, 2023
“That’s an angle that’s best test-driven in Amsterdam,” he added, because the public in the Dutch capital is already familiar with Rembrandt’s larger body of work.
From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2023
One area of concern is the shrinking playground time during the school day due to an emphasis on more test-driven curricula.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
And yet, late last year, I spent two weeks test-driving one of China’s hottest cars around the mean streets of New Jersey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
He told the BBC that in test-driving prototypes, designed by Tata Technologies for Vietnamese car maker Vinfast, he identified improperly designed components in the car's chassis, including its suspension system.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2024
Biden has leaned into his role as consumer in chief, eating Jeni’s ice cream, donning Ray-Ban sunglasses, test-driving electric vehicles and telling stories about his 1967 Corvette convertible.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 3, 2023
The car and bike enthusiast told the Review-Journal that he was test-driving a 1940 Indian motorcycle and noticed the scent of leaking gas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2023
People walk beside test-driving cars outside a car maker's showroom in Tokyo May 1, 2014.
From Reuters ● Sep. 9, 2021
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
