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
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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:
By doing so, the researchers hope to extract more useful information from each electron, potentially allowing scientists to form clearer images while exposing delicate samples to fewer electrons.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
Broadly speaking, he said, “there are people who are trying to spread their religion. There are people who are trying to extract resources from other communities, and then there are people who want status.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Medical staff and volunteers worked to extract DNA from the unidentified remains.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
But because the draft was an inexact science, the surest way to extract value was to take as many shots as possible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
He was stunned by Crocker’s question, which hinted at the ease with which he could extract funds for a device with presumed, but far from certain, medical applications.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
According to book extracts published by Haaretz, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had a phone call with Netanyahu that September.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 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
In tests involving oral samples from patients, extracts from the gum sharply reduced one virus and two types of bacteria linked to the disease.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
It's a far cry from basin depths in Silesia -- a historic coal mining region in southern Poland where he still extracts the ore.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
He was encouraged to write a letter to the Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, and he composed a five-hundred-word plea, extracts of which follow:
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Sea salt, meanwhile, refers to salt extracted from ocean water or lakes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
When Boeing bought the company it was preserving its own supply chain, and for that Spirit extracted a large premium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
“The complaint alleges that Amazon’s scheme has likely extracted tens of billions of dollars from its unwitting advertising customers,” the FTC said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
"It's undoubtedly better than before. Before, this oil wasn't being extracted; if no one extracts it, no one pays royalties, and no one profits from it," he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Nathan turned around and stared at the gray being, the size of Seed Collector, that had been extracted from the back of his skull.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
And if Mourinho has proven himself capable of one thing, it’s extracting commitment from his team.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Farmers source water for their crops and livestock over summer from a combination of stored winter rainfall on site, and by extracting it from natural sources - a process called abstraction.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
While its emissions are lower, drilling and extracting it causes the leakage of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas and the main component of natural gas.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
Rather than manually extracting proteins and peptides from tissues and then using methods such as mass spectrometry to identify huge numbers of molecules, the researchers created a computer algorithm called Peptide Predictor.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
But Harry had no possibility of extracting the wand concealed under his robes without being noticed by the Death Eaters, who marched on either side of them through the slowly lightening darkness....
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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.
