drag

CEFRB1

/dɹæɡ/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To pull something along a surface with effort.

  2. 02

    noun

    Something that slows progress or feels boring.

Examples

  • The children would be a drag on me, so I want to go without them.

  • The sack is too heavy to lift—you’ll have to drag it.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /dɹaɡ/
  • /dɹeɪɡ/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. A device dragged along the bottom of a body of water in search of something, e.g. a dead body, or in fishing.

  2. Any force acting in opposition to the motion of an object.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. Resistance of a fluid to something moving through it.

More examples

In context

  • This looks as though it will drag on and on.

  • A high thrust-to-weight ratio helps a rocket to overcome the effects of gravity drag.

  • He got high after just one drag of the joint.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He grabbed the handle and had to blank the heavy crate across the floor.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English draggen (“to drag”), early Middle English dragen (“to draw, carry”), confluence of Old English dragan (“to drag, draw, draw oneself, go, protract”) and Old Norse draga (“to draw, attract”); both from Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to draw, drag”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to draw, drag”). Verb sense influenced due to association with the noun drag (“that which is hauled or dragged”), related to Low German dragge (“a drag-anchor, grapnel”). Cognate with Danish drægge (“to dredge”), Danish drage (“to draw, attract”), Swedish dragga (“to drag, drag anchor, sweep”), Swedish draga (“to draw, go”), Icelandic draga (“to drag, pull”). Doublet of draw.