1 B2 neutral
To gently pull tangled hair, fibres, or strands out of a knotted mass.
"She used a wide-toothed comb to tease out the knots after washing her hair."
separable
tease out
B2 neutral separable transitive
To extract something — information, meaning, or a detail — slowly and carefully from a complex or tangled source.
In plain English
To slowly and carefully get something out that is hidden or difficult to find, like finding a specific thread in a knot.
What does "tease out" mean?
3 meanings, ordered from most common to least. Color-coded by CEFR level.
2 B2 idiomatic neutral
To extract hidden or implied meaning, information, or ideas from something complex.
"The professor helped us tease out the political subtext in the poem."
separable
3 B2 idiomatic informal
To gradually obtain information from someone who is reluctant to give it.
"It took twenty minutes to tease the full story out of him."
separable
Literal vs figurative
Words literally mean
To gently pull a single thread or strand outward from a mass of tangled material.
Actually means
To slowly and carefully get something out that is hidden or difficult to find, like finding a specific thread in a knot.
Usage tip
Very common in academic, journalistic, and analytical contexts. Also used literally for hair or fibres. The figurative sense (extracting meaning or information) is more frequent in educated writing.
Words that pair with "tease out"
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
meaning implication detail information theme hair
How to conjugate "tease out"
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
Base
tease out
I/you/we/they
3rd person
teases out
he/she/it
Past simple
teased out
yesterday
Past participle
teased out
have + pp
-ing form
teasing out
continuous
Hear "tease out" in the wild
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Other ways to say "tease out"
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