Meaning of elicit in English

Table of contents

Verb
elicit
Etymology
mid 17th century: from Latin elicit-‘drawn out by trickery or magic’, from the verb elicere, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + lacere‘entice, deceive’
Definitions
1. call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)
Examples
- « arouse pity »
- « raise a smile »
- « evoke sympathy »
Derived terms
2. deduce (a principle) or construe (a meaning)
Examples
- « We drew out some interesting linguistic data from the native informant »
3. derive by reason
Examples
- « elicit a solution »

Famous quotes

« Staying married may have long-term benefits. You can elicit much more sympathy from friends over a bad marriage than you ever can from a good divorce. »
P. J. O'Rourke
« The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there. »
John Buchan
« A book is sent out into the world, and there is no way of fully anticipating the responses it will elicit. Consider the responses called forth by the Bible, Homer, Shakespeare - let alone contemporary poetry or a modern novel. »
Chaim Potok
« I do not - I never believed it's better to kill a terrorist than to detain him. We want to detain as many terrorists as possible so we can elicit the intelligence from them in the appropriate manner so that we can disrupt follow-on terrorist attacks. »
John O. Brennan
« The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there. »
James Buchanan