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extract

/ɪkˈstrækt/·verb, noun

to pull something out of what holds it — with care, effort, or force
Fig. 1 — Under the plate the dark mass gives up its gold a drop at a time.
01Definition

To extract is to draw something out against resistance. Latin says it plainly: ex, out, trahere, to pull — the same dragging root that gives us tractor. The verb keeps a sense of work: teeth are extracted, minerals are extracted, confessions are extracted from reluctant witnesses, and analysts extract patterns from data that does not volunteer them. The noun (stress shifted forward: EX-tract) is the valuable part once out — a lemon's oil, a passage lifted from a book.

02In use
  • iDentists extract a tooth only when nothing else can save it.
  • iiThe software extracts the key figures from thousands of scanned invoices.
  • iiiIt took two interviews to extract a straight answer from the minister.
03Collocations
  • extract information from
  • extract a tooth
  • extract minerals
  • vanilla extract
  • an extract from a novel

Family extraction (noun) · extract (noun) · extractor (noun)

04Relations

=derive, remove, withdraw, distill, obtain

≠insert, implant

06TOEFL & IELTS

A classic heteronym: the verb stresses the second syllable, ex-TRACT /ɪkˈstrækt/, the noun the first, EX-tract /ˈekstrækt/ — the same pattern as record, permit and present, a shift that regularly trips up TOEFL Listening candidates. Academic prose leans on extract information/data from; science passages use resource extraction. Note the noun's two lives: a concentrated substance (vanilla extract) and a chosen passage of text (an extract from the diary), the second mostly British.

07Asked
Is extract pronounced differently as a noun and a verb?
Yes — it is a textbook heteronym. The verb stresses the second syllable: ex-TRACT, 'they extract the oil'. The noun stresses the first: EX-tract, 'pure vanilla extract'. The rule of thumb for such two-syllable pairs is noun in front, verb behind, and it never fails for this word. Listening passages love the pair precisely because spelling gives no clue about which one you are hearing.
What does extract mean in cooking, as in vanilla extract?
A concentrated flavour drawn out of a raw ingredient into a carrier, usually alcohol: vanilla extract is the pod's essence carried into the liquid — not the pod itself, which ends up spent and discarded. The name is the process — exactly the olive press above, where the fruit's worth ends up dense and portable in a small glass while the bulk stays behind. Almond, lemon and malt extract follow the same logic.
What is an extract from a book — the same as an excerpt?
Nearly. Both name a passage lifted from a longer text; excerpt is the usual American word, extract the more British one, common in UK exam papers ('read the extract below'). If a nuance separates them, extract slightly favours the idea of a representative sample pulled out for study, but in practice the two are interchangeable.
What does it mean to extract data or information?
To pull the usable part out of a source that was not built to hand it over — figures from scanned invoices, dates from free text, patterns from server logs. Data engineering even starts its standard pipeline with the word: ETL, extract-transform-load. The verb earns its place because the material genuinely resists; extraction is the work of separating signal from the mass around it.
Does extract just mean remove?
No — it is remove plus resistance. You remove your coat but extract a splinter; the object of extract is held by something and must be drawn out with effort, skill or pressure. That is why interrogators extract confessions and dentists extract teeth, and why the press in the scene needs a screw and a strong arm rather than a lid. Where nothing resists, plain remove is the honest verb.
What is the noun form for the process — extraction?
Yes: extraction covers the act itself, from tooth extraction at the dentist to data extraction and resource extraction in industry — mining and drilling economies are called extractive industries. The doer or device is an extractor (a juice extractor, a fume extractor). Keep the stress here on the second syllable: ex-TRAC-tion.