find out

Verb

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

1. (idiomatic, transitive) 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.
   • "Why shouldn't somethin' new and wonderful lie in such a country? And why shouldn't we be the men to find it out?"1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   get at

2. (transitive) To discover or expose (someone) as disobedient, dishonest, etc.
   • He had been fiddling the books for years, but finally he was found out.
3. (transitive) 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.
5. (intransitive, slang) To receive the consequences of one's actions.
   • fuck around and find out
   • With the way he behaved, it's no wonder he found out.