drive

To control a car or another vehicle and make it move.

• Can you drive a car?
• She drove the bus carefully.
• I am learning to drive a van.

Similar words: operate

Common phrases: drive a car, drive a bus, learn to drive, drive a truck

To go somewhere in a car or another vehicle that you control.

• I drive to work.
• We drove home after dinner.
• Will you drive across the country this summer?

How to use it: drive to + place (We drove to the airport.); drive from A to B (She drives from home to work every morning.)

Similar words: go by car

Common phrases: drive to work, drive home, drive to something, drive across something

To make someone do something or enter a particular state, often through strong pressure or feelings.

• This noise will drive me crazy.
• Poverty drove him to steal food.
• Her ambition drove her to work harder.

How to use it: drive someone to do something (Fear drove him to leave the city.); drive someone to + noun (The pressure drove her to tears.); drive someone + adjective (The noise is driving me mad.)

Similar words: compel, force, push

Common phrases: drive someone crazy, drive someone to something, drive someone mad

To make people, animals, or things move in a particular direction, often by force.

• The dogs drive the sheep forward.
• Strong winds drove the rain against the windows.
• The army drove the enemy out of the village.

How to use it: drive someone/something into something (The dogs drove the sheep into the pen.); drive someone/something out of something (The soldiers drove the enemy out of the town.)

Similar words: force, push, herd

Common phrases: drive cattle, drive someone away, drive something into something, drive someone out

A journey in a car or another vehicle.

• Let us go for a drive.
• The drive home took two hours.
• We enjoyed several scenic drives through the mountains.

How to use it: a drive to + place (The drive to the beach took an hour.)

Similar words: car trip, journey

Common phrases: go for a drive, long drive, short drive, drive to something

A strong desire or inner need to do or achieve something.

• She has plenty of drive.
• His drive to succeed kept him working late.
• The team needs someone with energy and drive.

How to use it: drive to do something (She has the drive to build a successful business.)

Similar words: motivation, determination, ambition

Opposites: apathy

Common phrases: drive to succeed, strong drive, sexual drive, drive and ambition

A computer device that reads, stores, or writes information on a disk.

• My computer needs a new drive.
• She saved the files on an external drive.
• Both drives stopped working after the power failure.

Similar words: disk drive

Common phrases: hard drive, disk drive, external drive, usb drive

A short private road where you park a car or reach a house.

• Your car is on the drive.
• We parked halfway along their narrow drive.
• The house has a long drive leading to the garage.

Similar words: driveway

Common phrases: on the drive, a gravel drive, a narrow drive