tr.v., -tract·ed, -tract·ing, -tracts.
- To draw or pull out, often with great force or effort: extract a wisdom tooth; used tweezers to extract the splinter.
- To obtain despite resistance: extract a promise.
- To obtain from a substance by chemical or mechanical action, as by pressure, distillation, or evaporation.
- To remove for separate consideration or publication; excerpt.
- To derive or obtain (information, for example) from a source.
- To deduce (a principle or doctrine); construe (a meaning).
- To derive (pleasure or comfort) from an experience.
- Mathematics. To determine or calculate (the root of a number).
Something extracted, especially:
- A passage from a literary work; an excerpt.
- A concentrated preparation of the essential constituents of a food, flavoring, or other substance; a concentrate: maple extract.
[Middle English extracten, from Latin extrahere, extract- : ex-, ex- + trahere, to draw.]
extractable ex·tract'a·ble or ex·tract'i·ble adj.extractor ex·trac'tor n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
