📒 to operate a vehicle so that it goes in a particular direction
- Can you drive?
- Don't drive so fast!
- I drove to work this morning.
📒 to take somebody somewhere in a car, taxi, etc.
- drive somebody + adv./prep. Could you drive me home?
- My mother drove us to the airport.
- They were driven to an unknown place in the hills.
📒 to travel under the control of a driver
- A stream of black cars drove by.
- A car drove up to us and a man got out.
📒 to own or use a particular type of vehicle
- What car do you drive?
- You need a special licence to drive a heavy goods vehicle.
📒 to make somebody very angry, crazy, etc. or to make them do something extreme
- drive somebody + adj. to drive somebody crazy/mad/nuts/insane
- drive somebody to do something Hunger drove her to steal.
- drive somebody to something Those kids are driving me to despair.
📒 to force somebody to act in a particular way
- drive somebody + adv./prep. The urge to survive drove them on.
- drive yourself + adv./prep. You're driving yourself too hard.
- be driven by something He was driven by the desire to understand how things work.
📒 to provide the power that makes a machine work; to operate a device
- a steam-driven locomotive
- The interface can be used to drive a printer.
📒 to force somebody/something to move in a particular direction
- to drive sheep into a field
- The enemy was driven back.
📒 to influence something or cause it to make progress
- This is the main factor driving investment in the area.
- A key factor driving growth was the launch of convenient products.
- The dairy products market will also be driven by consumer demand.
📒 to force something to go in a particular direction or into a particular position by pushing it, hitting it, etc.
- to drive a nail into a piece of wood
- He took a wooden peg and drove it into the ground.
- The knife had been driven through his heart.
📒 to make an opening in or through something by using force
- They drove a tunnel through the solid rock.
📒 to hit a ball with force, sending it forward
- to drive the ball into the rough (= in golf)
📒 to carry something along
- Huge waves drove the yacht onto the rocks.
📒 to fall or move rapidly and with great force
- The waves drove against the shore.
📒 extremely clean, pure, etc.
📒 to cause something to fail, for example a plan
📒 to argue in an aggressive way and force somebody to agree on the best possible price or arrangement
📒 to make somebody understand or accept something by saying it often, loudly, angrily, etc.
- You will really need to drive your point home.
📒 to make somebody so worried, annoyed or upset that they lose control of their behaviour, especially by drinking too much alcohol
- The stress drove her to drink and put a strain on her marriage.
- (humorous) Dragging kids through airports is enough to drive you to drink.
📒 to make two people start disliking each other
- I don't want to drive a wedge between the two of you.
- This was just one of the issues that drove a wedge between them.
📒 to work so hard that you become extremely tired
📒 the thing somebody is trying to say
- I wish I knew what they were driving at.