Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To call forth, draw out, or provoke (a response or reaction, for example): synonym: evoke.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Immediately directed to an end: opposed to imperate.
  • Performed by the will itself without the aid of any other faculty: as, volition, nolition, choice, consent, and the like are elicit acts: opposed to imperate.
  • To draw out; bring forth or to light; evolve; gain: as, to elicit sparks by collision; to elicit truth by discussion; to elicit approval.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Elicited; drawn out; made real; open; evident.
  • transitive verb To draw out or entice forth; to bring to light; to bring out against the will; to deduce by reason or argument.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To evoke, educe (emotions, feelings, responses, etc.); to generate, obtain, or provoke as a response or answer.
  • verb To draw out, bring out, bring forth (something latent); to obtain information from someone or something.
  • verb To use logic to arrive at truth; to derive by reason; deduce; construe.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb deduce (a principle) or construe (a meaning)
  • verb derive by reason
  • verb call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin ēlicere, ēlicit- : ē-, ex-, ex- + lacere, to entice.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin elicitus from elicere, to draw forth

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Examples

  • Of course, this answer is the one I suspect that Dawkins wishes to elicit from the reader of "Meet my cousin, the chimpanzee".

    Dawkins Still MIA 2005

  • A similar problem unfolds in stanza five as the speaker seeks to elicit from the urn a transcendental message both aesthetic and ontological that will bring the poem to thematic and formal closure and that will confirm the urn's (and the poem's) status as a revelatory Romantic symbol.

    Ode on a Grecian Urn 2003

  • The first step, however, was to elicit from the Germans a concrete statement of aims.

    14. Peace Negotiations, 1916-1917, and the Intervention of the United States, 1917 2001

  • Meanwhile Dr Malan made an attempt to elicit from the Germans a more definite indication of their intentions towards South Africa.

    The Rise of the South African Reich - Chapter 7 1969

  • And this is pretty much the standard crest-and-trough reaction I elicit from the Chinese.

    Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Views' 2009

  • i wonder how many “kill it” posts this will elicit from the local contingent of bitter, pizza-faced, boys.

    happy girl | My[confined]Space 2009

  • But country-of-origin labels elicit an even more perplexing question.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • But country-of-origin labels elicit an even more perplexing question.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • Say Chinnery to any art buff under 40 and the name will elicit no response, and now that Tate Britain has all but abandoned its responsibility to keep successive generations aware of historic British painting, it is probable that Chinnery will be for ever lost to common knowledge, obliterated, with many other once known artists, by the enforced fashion there for contemporary art.

    Evening Standard - Home Brian Sewell 2011

  • I also loved that you used 'elicit' and 'illicit' within the same piece, and close together.

    Crumple, Illicit, Nerve floreta 2009

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