Phrase guide

put out feelers

verb · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To explore or watch for; to ask around; to investigate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

Examples

  • I will put out feelers and see what I can find out about that.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

make some preliminary investigations or test the waters

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: explore

History

Etymology

An allusion to animals which use their feelers to gain awareness of their surroundings.