Skip to learning

YOUR VOCABULARY, ONE WORD AT A TIME

glean

Verb

IPA /ɡliːn/

Understand it. Say it. Use it.

UNDERSTAND THE WORD

Meaning in plain English

To gather useful pieces of information from different sources, often slowly or with some effort rather than all at once.

SAY IT ALOUD

Pronunciation

glean/ɡliːn/

PICTURE THE IDEA

See the meaning

Connect the ideas
  1. A diary gives one useful detail

  2. An old photograph gives another

  3. The details are gathered into an account

To glean information is to collect useful pieces from different places.

SEE IT IN EVERYDAY ENGLISH

Examples in context

Read the examples aloud. Notice how the word fits the sentence, then think of a situation of your own.

  1. I gleaned a few cooking tips from chatting with my neighbours.
  2. The students gleaned evidence from diaries, photographs and old newspaper reports.

MAKE IT STICK

Quick word quiz

Try the question without looking back, then write a sentence of your own. You can retry as often as you like.

Can you recall the word?

Which word from this lesson matches this meaning?

To gather useful pieces of information from different sources, often slowly or with some effort rather than all at once.
Show the answer

glean — To gather useful pieces of information from different sources, often slowly or with some effort rather than all at once.

Try your own sentence (optional)

Make it yours

Write one sentence using “glean” about your own life.

Check your sentence

Does your sentence match this meaning?

To gather useful pieces of information from different sources, often slowly or with some effort rather than all at once.

Compare: I gleaned a few cooking tips from chatting with my neighbours.

Check the spelling and how the word fits the sentence. Your example can be different.

Self-review only. Your sentence is not automatically marked, saved or submitted.

This quiz is for practice. To save lesson completion on this device, complete the checks in the app.

Word origin

From Old French glener, through late Latin glennare.

Did you know?

Glean information from a source identifies where the small pieces of knowledge come from.

Explore related words

Open a word’s lesson when available, or explore entries that use the related term.

Make the word your own

  1. Say the word aloud and read an example sentence.
  2. Write a new sentence about something familiar to you.
  3. Cover the meaning and try explaining the word in your own words.

Continue with the app’s practice check, then try a sentence of your own to mark this word complete.

Practise this word in the app

Completion and saved words stay in this browser on this device.

Share this word

Save the image or share a link to this word.

@englishskillstudio

glean

/ɡliːn/ (Verb)

“Use glean something from something. It often suggests collecting scattered details rather than receiving a full explanation.”

englishskillstudio.com