elicit
/ɪˈlɪsɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.10 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To evoke, educe (emotions, feelings, responses, etc.); to generate, obtain, or provoke as a response or answer.
verb
To draw out, bring out, bring forth (something latent); to obtain information from someone or something.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Shouts of laughter were elicited, smart biddings drawn out, from the whispers of a timid miss, to the stentorian voice of a fox-hunting squire, and not a few fracas from parties either contending for a supposed prize, or disclaiming their chance for it,..."
- "Elizabeth's queenship elicited her subjects' fantasies and fears that she was, as Shakespeare's Cleopatra puts it, “no more but e'en a woman,” and that a woman ruling over men would necessarily subject her entire realm to unbridled feminine sexual desire."
- "Fred wished to elicit the time of the meeting from Jane."
- "Did you elicit a response?"
- "[…] not only did I fail to renew his old feelings towards you, but I could not even succeed in eliciting the reason of his alienation."
- "He visited three department stores in New York and asked the attendant a question that would elicit the answer fourth floor; for example, he might have asked Excuse me, where are women's shoes?"
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: elicitus