Meanings
present singular third person drives away · participle present driving away · past drove away · participle past driven away
- idiomaticTo force someone or something to leave
Unsanitary conditions are driving away business.
3 more examples
I managed to drive the vultures away by shouting and waving my arms about.
Sébastien Bassong is being driven away by the "madness" at Newcastle United, a source close to the Frenchman has told the local Evening Chronicle newspaper.
2009 June 10, Football, The GuardianWe would like to believe in the enchanting influence of Gandhigiri as the single absolute force that drove away the whites who probably went muttering, 'bloody Indians', an expression that was enthusiastically attributed to Englishmen by innumerable Hindi films.
2011, Manu Joseph, “Bullshit as a Cultural Space”, in Urban Voice 4: New Indian Writing, Leadstart Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 108
Synonyms & antonyms
verbforce to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Ancient Greek ἐξελαύνω
- ἐξελαύνω (exelaúnō)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Arabic طَرَدَ
- طَرَدَ (ṭarada)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Bulgarian изгонвам
- изгонвам (izgonvam)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Chinese Mandarin 趕走 /赶走
- 趕走 /赶走 (gǎnzǒu)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Czech odjet
- odjet(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
Finnish ajaa pois, ajaa pois
- ajaa pois(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- ajaa pois(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- häätää(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- karkottaa(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- hätistää(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
French repousser
- repousser(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
German wegfahren, davonfahren
- wegfahren(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- davonfahren(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- vertreiben(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- verjagen(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- verscheuchen(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Irish ruaig
- ruaig(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Japanese 退ける, 追い遣る
- 退ける (shirizokeru)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- 追い遣る (oiyaru)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Latin repellō, dēfugō
- repellō(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- dēfugō(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Malay هالاو, halau
- هالاو(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- halau(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Māori whakamatara
- whakamatara(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Romanian alunga, goni
- alunga(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- goni(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Russian уезжа́ть, уе́хать
- уезжа́ть (ujezžátʹ)(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- уе́хать (ujéxatʹ)(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- отъезжа́ть (otʺjezžátʹ)(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- отъе́хать (otʺjéxatʹ)(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- отвози́ть (otvozítʹ)(literal, transitive) to take away by driving
- отвезти́ (otveztí)(literal, transitive) to take away by driving
- прогоня́ть (progonjátʹ)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- прогна́ть (prognátʹ)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- выгоня́ть (vygonjátʹ)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- вы́гнать (výgnatʹ)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Spanish correr, ahuyentar
- correr(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- ahuyentar(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- largar(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Turkish kovmak
- kovmak(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Ukrainian пої́хати, від'їжджа́ти
- пої́хати (pojíxaty)(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- від'їжджа́ти (vidʺjiždžáty)(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- від'ї́здити (vidʺjízdyty)(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- від'ї́хати (vidʺjíxaty)(literal, intransitive) to depart by driving
- відво́зити (vidvózyty)(literal, transitive) to take away by driving
- відвезти́ (vidveztý)(literal, transitive) to take away by driving
- проганя́ти (prohanjáty)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- прогна́ти (prohnáty)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- відганя́ти (vidhanjáty)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
- відігна́ти (vidihnáty)(idiomatic, transitive) to force someone or something to leave
Cite this entry
drive away. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drive%20away
“drive away.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drive%20away. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drive away,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drive%20away.
Source: drive away on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.