Word.ws English Dictionary

getting at

getting at is the present participle and gerund 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 getting at

What is getting at the present participle and gerund of?
Getting at is the present participle and gerund of get at.

Words near getting at in the dictionary

  1. getting along
  2. getting amongst it
  3. getting any
  4. getting around
  5. getting around to
  6. getting at
  7. getting away
  8. getting away with
  9. getting away with murder
  10. getting back
  11. getting back at

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: getting 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.

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