Word.ws English Dictionary

gets at

gets at is the third-person singular simple present indicative of get at.

Meaning of get at

Verb

get at (third-person singular simple present gets at, present participle getting at, simple past got at, past participle (UK) got at or (US) gotten at)

  1. To manage to gain access to.
    • I have a lot of money in my trust fund. I just can't get at it.
  2. To understand or ascertain by investigation.
    • We need to get at the root cause of all this.
  3. To mean, signify, imply.
    • I don't understand. What are you getting at?
    Synonyms:
    drive at
  4. To attack verbally or physically; to annoy, bother.
    • He's a bit disheartened. The newspapers have been getting at him again.
  5. To persuade by intimidation; to tamper with; to corrupt.
    • That was a ridiculous verdict. I think the jury was got at.
  6. To begin working on or dealing with.
    • Stop procrastinating on your work and get at it!
    Synonyms:
    have at, get on

See all 8 meanings of get at

Questions about gets at

What is gets at the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Gets at is the third-person singular simple present indicative of get at.

Words near gets at in the dictionary

  1. gets ahold of oneself
  2. gets along
  3. gets amongst it
  4. gets around
  5. gets around to
  6. gets at
  7. gets away
  8. gets away with
  9. gets away with murder
  10. gets back
  11. gets back at

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gets at (page history and authors); get at (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “gets at.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gets_at. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.