tease out

phrasal verb·1 sense·particle out

Usefulness

Meanings

1

Carefully separate or extract information that is hidden in something complex

Why “out”? Something comes into the open. People can see it, know it, or understand it.

She teased out the main idea from a confusing report.
She carefully found the main idea hidden in a confusing report.
The detective teased out the truth from several different stories.
The detective carefully found the truth hidden in several different stories.

Test yourself

She teased out the main idea from a confusing report. What does it mean?

Nearby in the meaning map

Sink In connects verbs by particle pattern, contrast pairs, and shared base verbs.

Sink In app icon

Sink In — iOS & Android

Practice “tease out” in Sink In

Drill “tease out” and 1,300+ other phrasal verbs with spaced repetition, organised by the particle patterns that connect them.

  • Learn the pattern behind dozens of verbs at once — not one-off translations.
  • Spaced repetition (SM-2) brings each meaning back right before you forget.
  • Four practice modes train recall and discrimination, not just recognition.
1,300+ phrasal verbs26 particle patternsBuilt for B1–C2
Sink In daily spaced-repetition practice session