elicit

Formselicits, eliciting, elicited

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To call forth an emotion, reaction or other response; to produce, obtain or provoke something as a reply.

   The proposal elicited sharp criticism from local business owners.

   Good horror films elicit dread long before anything appears on screen.

   Similarprovoke, evoke, draw, prompt, produce

   Note

   Behind it is Latin elicio, "to draw forth", and the verb still pictures a reaction being pulled out of someone rather than simply caused. It takes the response as its object: a remark elicits laughter, criticism or a reply. It is often passive, as when shouts of laughter were elicited from a room, and it sits a register above get or cause.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To bring out something hidden or not yet expressed, or to get information from a person or source.

   Researchers used a short survey to elicit residents' views on the new park.

   A patient coach can elicit abilities a shy player never knew she had.

   Similarobtain, extract, draw

   Note

   Here the thing drawn out is information, and the source follows from: you elicit the time of a meeting from a colleague. Linguists and survey researchers use the word for questions designed to produce a particular answer, such as asking where the shoes are to elicit "fourth floor". The person questioned is never the direct object; the answer is.

3. 3
   adjectiveobsolete

   Drawn out into the open; brought into real and evident existence.

   An elicit act of equity.

   1660, Jeremy Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium

   Note

   An obsolete adjective taken straight from Latin elicitus, "drawn forth", the same participle that lies behind the verb. It belongs to older moral writing: Jeremy Taylor's Ductor Dubitantium of 1660 speaks of an elicit act of equity, a fair act brought out into the open and made real. Modern readers meeting it should not mistake it for a misspelling.

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