find out

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

find out (third-person singular simple present finds out, present participle finding out, simple past and past participle found out)

1. (idiomatic) To discover, as by asking or investigating.

   I don't know who the twenty-first president of the United States was, but it should be very easy to find out.

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "Why shouldn't somethin' new and wonderful lie in such a country? And why shouldn't we be the men to find it out?"

   • 2014 October 27, Taylor Swift, Ryan Tedder (lyrics and music), “I Know Places (Taylor's Version)”, in 1989 (Taylor's Version)‎^[1], performed by Taylor Swift, published 2023 October 27:

     Somethin' happens when everybody finds out
     See the vultures circling, dark clouds

   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:

     I haven't booked, so I don't have a clue as to whether the service will be busy or not. Supposedly, reservations are compulsory, but I want to find out what would happen if you just turn up.

2. To discover or expose (someone) as disobedient, dishonest, etc.

   He had been fiddling the books for years, but finally he was found out.

3. To uncover a weakness in (someone).

   He may cope with the multiple choice questions, but the written exam will find him out.

   If you don't try, you do not find it out.

4. (archaic) To discover (something), as by perceiving or coming upon it.

Derived terms

• fuck around and find out

Translations

to discover

• Afrikaans: uitvind (af)
• Azerbaijani: öyrənmək (az)
• Catalan: esbrinar (ca), descobrir (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏕᎶᎰᏍᎦ (adelohosga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 找出 (zh) (zhǎochū), 查明 (zh) (chámíng), 發現 / 发现 (zh) (fāxiàn), 調查 / 调查 (zh) (diàochá)

• Czech: zjistit (cs)
• Danish: finde ud af, undersøge
• Dutch: ontdekken (nl), onderzoeken (nl), uitvinden (nl)
• Esperanto: sciiĝi
• Finnish: saada selville, selvittää (fi)
• French: découvrir (fr), savoir (fr), apprendre (fr), se renseigner (fr), comprendre (fr)
• German: herausfinden (de), erfahren (de)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐍆𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (ufkunnan)
• Greek:

  Ancient: πυνθάνομαι (punthánomai), ἐξευρίσκω (exeurískō), ὁράω (horáō) (+indirect question)

• Hungarian: kitalál (hu), rájön (hu), megtud (hu)
• Icelandic: komast að, komast á snoðir um
• Ingrian: haissella, kuulustaa
• Italian: scoprire (it)
• Japanese: 見出す (ja) (みだす, midasu), 調べる (ja) (しらべる, shiraberu), 分かる (ja) (わかる, wakaru), 発見する (ja) (はっけんする, hakken-suru)
• Khiamniungan Naga: thōhchūh, thōhchūh
• Ladin: abiné ora
• Lao: ຊອກຮູ້ (sǭk hū)
• Latin: resciscō, experior, reperiō, comperiō, inveniō (la)
• Latvian: uzzināt
• Macedonian: дознава (doznava)
• Norwegian: finne ut

  Nynorsk: erfare

• Old English: āfindan
• Polish: dowiadywać się impf, dowiedzieć się pf, informować się impf, poinformować się pf
• Portuguese: descobrir (pt)
• Romanian: descoperi (ro), afla (ro)
• Russian: узнава́ть (ru) impf (uznavátʹ), узна́ть (ru) pf (uznátʹ), обнару́жить (ru) (obnarúžitʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: faigh a-mach
• Slovak: zistiť, zisťovať
• Spanish: descubrir (es), averiguar (es), salir de dudas, anoticiarse (es), enterarse (es)
• Swedish: ta reda på (sv)
• Turkish: anlamak (tr), ortaya çıkarmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: дізнаватися (diznavatysja), дізнатися (diznatysja), довідуватися (doviduvatysja), довідатися (dovidatysja)
• Welsh: cael allan
• Yiddish: דערוויסן זיך (dervisn zikh)
• Zazaki: fahm kerden, idrak kerden, ver veten

to expose as dishonest

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 揭發 / 揭发 (zh) (jiēfā)

• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: paljastua (fi) (subject is the person who is exposed), paljastaa (fi), huomata (fi), käräyttää (fi)
• French: démasquer (fr), griller (fr)

to uncover a weakness

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 找出弱點 / 找出弱点 (zhǎochū ruòdiǎn)

• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: saada heikkous selville
• French: trahir (fr)

Anagrams

• outfind