find out

present singular third person finds out · participle present finding out · participle past found out · past found out

1. idiomatictransitiveTo 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.

   3 more examples

   "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

   Somethin' happens when everybody finds out See the vultures circling, dark clouds

   2014 October 27, Taylor Swift, Ryan Tedder, “I Know Places (Taylor's Version)”, in 1989 (Taylor's Version), performed by Taylor Swift, published 27 October 2023

   I haven't booked, so I don't have a clue as to whether the service will be busy or not. Supposedly, reservations are compulsory, but I want to find out what would happen if you just turn up.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68

   Synonyms: get at

2. transitiveTo discover or expose (someone) as disobedient, dishonest, etc.

   He had been fiddling the books for years, but finally he was found out.

3. transitiveTo uncover a weakness in (someone).

   If you don't try, you do not find it out.

   1 more example

   He may cope with the multiple choice questions, but the written exam will find him out.

4. archaicTo discover (something), as by perceiving or coming upon it.
5. intransitiveslangTo receive the consequences of one's actions.

   fuck around and find out

   1 more example

   With the way he behaved, it's no wonder he found out.