find out
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb (transitive):
- To discover or learn a fact, piece of information, or the truth, often through investigation, effort, or by chance.
- To discover that someone has done something wrong or deceitful.
Verb (intransitive):
- To become aware of or ascertain something.
Usage
- Transitive use: The verb is followed by a direct object (what is discovered) or a clause beginning with 'that', 'if', or 'whether'.
- Intransitive use: The verb can be used without a direct object, often followed by a prepositional phrase like 'about something'.
- It often implies a process of investigation or a surprising discovery.
Examples
- Transitive:
- I need to find out her address.
- They found out that the meeting was canceled.
- The teacher found out who cheated on the test.
- Intransitive:
- How did you find out?
- I just found out about the party yesterday.
Advanced Usage
- "to find someone out": To discover that someone has been doing something dishonest or wrong.
- He was stealing from the company for years before they finally found him out.
- Used to emphasize the act of obtaining specific, often hidden, information.
- The journalist worked for months to find out the truth about the scandal.
Variants and Related Words
- Discovery (n): The act of finding something.
- Uncover (v): To discover something secret or hidden.
- Ascertain (v): To find out something with certainty (more formal).
Synonyms
- Discover
- Learn
- Determine
- Uncover
- Detect
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Find out about: To get information concerning a specific topic or event.
- When did you find out about the new policy?
- Figure out: To understand or solve something by thinking. (Note: 'Figure out' focuses more on solving a problem or puzzle, while 'find out' focuses on obtaining information.)
Related Idioms
- Find out the hard way: To learn something through unpleasant experience rather than by being told.
- He found out the hard way that touching a hot stove is painful.
Verb
- trap; especially in an error or in a reprehensible act
- He was caught out
- She was found out when she tried to cash the stolen checks
- find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort
- I want to see whether she speaks French
- See whether it works
- find out if he speaks Russian
- Check whether the train leaves on time
- get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally
- I learned that she has two grown-up children
- I see that you have been promoted
- establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study
- find the product of two numbers
- The physicist who found the elusive particle won the Nobel Prize