Confirming, Understanding, or Revealing: English Vocabulary List

to accept a new way of thinking or set of principles into one's life

"They adopt out the baby."

"The animal shelter hopes to adopt out all of the puppies and kittens to loving families before the end of the summer."

to confirm a statement or claim by providing evidence

"The evidence bears out his story."

"The evidence from the investigation bears out the witness's version of what actually happened that night."

to forcefully or persistently extract information or a response from someone

"She drags a confession out of him."

"The police finally dragged the truth out of the suspect after interrogating him for several hours without a break."

to actively and persistently search for and uncover a piece of information or a secret

"The detective ferrets out the hidden truth."

"The detective managed to ferret out the hidden truth after interviewing all of the witnesses and examining the evidence carefully."

to disclose secret or classified information that was meant to be kept concealed

"The news leaks out to press."

"News of the merger leaked out to the press before the company was ready to make an official announcement."

to attempt to learn someone's opinions and intentions through subtle or indirect questioning or conversation

"Sound out the public opinion first."

"The manager wants to sound out the employees before making any major changes to the company's vacation policy."

to receive something as a form of payment

"He takes out his anger."

"She tends to take out her stress on her family when she has a difficult day at work."

to inform an authority about the wrongdoings or crimes of others

"Do not rat out your friends to teachers."

"The young boy decided to rat out his friend to the teacher for cheating on the important exam."

to find the answer to a question or problem

"Help me figure out this puzzle."

"It took the detective several weeks to figure out who had committed the crime because there were many false clues."

to get information about something after actively trying to do so

"She finds out the truth now."

"I called the receptionist to find out what time the meeting was scheduled to start because no one had told me."

(of news or information) to become public or widely known

"The news will get out."

"Once the secret plans got out, the company faced significant public backlash."

to understand something, often with effort

"She makes out the distant ship."

"I could barely make out the words on the old sign because the paint had faded significantly over the years."

to unintentionally reveal a piece of information while engaged in conversation

"It did slip out."

"During the casual conversation, a sensitive piece of information accidentally did slip out."

to expose something or someone, typically thorough investigation

"We will smoke them out."

"The investigative journalists worked tirelessly to smoke out the truth behind the corporate fraud."