out of business
Idioms-
No longer carrying on commercial transactions, as in He's decided to go out of business when he turns sixty-five , or The supermarkets are putting the small grocers out of business .
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Not in working order, inoperative, as in It looks as though the merry-go-round is out of business tonight . Also see out of commission ; go out , def. 5.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He added the company had made "little financial gain" and it would "benefit nobody" to impose a fine which led to the firm going out of business.
From BBC • Jun. 6, 2026
He argued that AI agents—models that complete tasks for a user following a simple prompt—won’t put software companies out of business.
From Barron's • Jun. 2, 2026
The 2022 ATF regulation survived a Supreme Court challenge last year, and lawsuits by several cities helped drive the leading producer of ghost guns out of business.
From Salon • Jun. 2, 2026
The company has grown from a startup with a handful of employees that almost went out of business to one of the world’s most valuable private companies with over 22,000 workers as of March 31.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
“It’s an old airline—probably none of you have heard of it, because it went out of business about ten years ago,” Angela said.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
