extract
Americanverb (used with object)
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extracts,
present (3rd person singular)
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extracted,
past participle, past
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extracting
present participle
-
to get, pull, or draw out, usually with special effort, skill, or force.
to extract a tooth.
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to deduce (a doctrine, principle, interpretation, etc.).
He extracted a completely personal meaning from what was said.
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to derive or obtain (pleasure, comfort, etc.) from a particular source.
He extracted satisfaction from the success of his sons.
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to take or copy out (matter), as from a book.
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to make excerpts from (a book, pamphlet, etc.).
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to extort (information, money, etc.).
to extract a secret from someone.
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to separate or obtain (a juice, ingredient, etc.) from a mixture by pressure, distillation, treatment with solvents, or the like.
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Mathematics.
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to determine (the root of a quantity that has a single root).
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to determine (a root of a quantity that has multiple roots).
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noun
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extracts
plural
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something extracted.
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a passage taken from a book, article, etc.; excerpt; quotation.
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a solution or preparation containing the active principles of a drug, plant juice, or the like; concentrated solution.
vanilla extract.
- Synonyms:
- distillation, decoction
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a solid, viscid, or liquid substance extracted from a plant, drug, or the like, containing its essence in concentrated form.
beef extract.
verb
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to withdraw, pull out, or uproot by force
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to remove or separate
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to derive (pleasure, information, etc) from some source or situation
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to deduce or develop (a doctrine, policy, etc)
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informal to extort (money, etc)
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to obtain (a substance) from a mixture or material by a chemical or physical process, such as digestion, distillation, the action of a solvent, or mechanical separation
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to cut out or copy out (an article, passage, quotation, etc) from a publication
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to determine the value of (the root of a number)
noun
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something extracted, such as a part or passage from a book, speech, etc
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a preparation containing the active principle or concentrated essence of a material
beef extract
yeast extract
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pharmacol a solution of plant or animal tissue containing the active principle
Usage
Extract is sometimes wrongly used where extricate would be better: he will find it difficult extricating (not extracting ) himself from this situation
Synonym Usage
Extract, exact, extort, wrest imply using force to remove something. To extract is to draw forth something as by pulling, importuning, or the like: to extract a confession by torture. To exact is to impose a penalty, or to obtain by force or authority, something to which one lays claim: to exact payment. To extort is to wring something by intimidation or threats from an unwilling person: to extort money by threats of blackmail. To wrest is to take by force or violence in spite of active resistance: The courageous minority wrested power from their oppressors.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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extractabilitynoun
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extractibilitynoun
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overextractverb (used with object)
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preextractverb (used with object)
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extractableadjective
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extractibleadjective
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nonextractableadjective
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nonextractedadjective
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nonextractibleadjective
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unextractableadjective
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unextractedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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extractsimple
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extractssimple
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have extractedperfect
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has extractedperfect
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am extractingprogressive
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are extractingprogressive
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is extractingprogressive
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have been extractingperfect progressive
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has been extractingperfect progressive
Past
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extractedsimple
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had extractedperfect
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was extractingprogressive
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were extractingprogressive
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had been extractingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of extract
First recorded in 1475–1500; from Latin extractus (past participle of extrahere ). See ex- 1, tract 1
Explanation
When you extract something, you remove it from a larger whole. You can extract a passage from a book, or a liquid essence from a vanilla bean—vanilla extract. Ex- means out of, and when you extract, you draw something out of something else. When listening to a complicated and long-winded story, it can be difficult to extract the truly meaningful details.
Vocabulary lists containing extract
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 12–15
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Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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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:
Divers worked over the past four months to extract its pottery from barnacles clinging to the rocky underwater slope.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
Leo, 71, has been at the Gemelli hospital in Rome since Tuesday when doctors removed part of his right lung to extract a cancerous tumour.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
There are a number of ways the chancellor could extract more money from the sector.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
In reality, even a monopolist wouldn’t be able to extract all consumer surplus, because of the presence of alternatives and the inability to fully know consumers’ willingness to pay.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
He asked this as if, having had the good fortune to catch such a rare bird as myself, he was anxious to extract my opinion while I was still captive in his office.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
They pioneered phytocosmetology—using plant extracts and essential oils in combination with advanced technological research.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
It estimates how much energy the body extracts before food reaches the colon, how much energy microbes produce from the remaining material, and how much ultimately gets absorbed or eliminated.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
The company is most known for its camera network, which extracts data about cars from photographs and allows operators to search for vehicles by description or license plate number.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
US President Donald Trump's Science and Technology adviser Michael Kratsios said Moonshot AI carried out the campaign through what is known as distillation - when a weaker AI model extracts answers from a stronger one.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
She bends down and extracts a strip of pictures, only gently chewed by sprites.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
The Oschin Center seeks to tackle that question head-on by displaying a genuine space potty, extracted from the Endeavour herself and displayed in a glass case.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Most of the oil produced from Rosebank would be sent to the Netherlands because the UK's remaining refineries are not equipped to process the heavier type of crude oil extracted from the North Sea.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
Alumina is a substance extracted from bauxite ore that is mainly used as the raw material to smelt aluminum metal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Parisi traveled to Oklahoma to obtain the Ames rock core from the Oklahoma Geological Survey, extracted zircon crystals from the material, and helped determine their ages.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
The huge femoral bones that Darwin had extracted from the soil belonged to a vast, elephant-size llama; its smaller current version was unique to South America.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The frontal cortex, meanwhile, is more involved in extracting broader meaning, recognizing patterns, and understanding the central message of an experience, sometimes called its "gist."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026
“Instead, we expect negotiation will commence with a view to extracting a higher price,” Citi says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
Other companies are extracting insights from large amounts of data for algorithmic-pricing strategies.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
He wants the government to help local miners establish safer and more effective ways of finding and extracting the gold.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
He would have cradled it and protected it instead of extracting it from its nest with a scoop.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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