dropout

American  

[drop-out] / ˈdrɒpˌaʊt /

Or drop-out

noun

1. an act or instance of dropping out.

2. a student who withdraws before completing a course of instruction.

3. a student who withdraws from high school after having reached the legal age to do so.

4. a person who withdraws from established society, especially to pursue an alternate lifestyle.

5. a person who withdraws from a competition, job, task, etc..

   the first dropout from the presidential race.

6. Rugby. a drop kick made by a defending team from within its own 25-yard (23-meter) line as a result of a touchdown or of the ball's having touched or gone outside of a touch-in-goal line or the dead-ball line.

7. Also called highlight halftone.  Printing, Photography. a halftone negative or plate in which dots have been eliminated from highlights by continued etching, burning in, opaquing, or the like.

8. Also called dropout error.  the loss of portions of the information on a recorded magnetic tape due to contamination of the magnetic medium or poor contact with the tape heads.

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dropout British  

/ ˈdrɒpˌaʊt /

noun

1. a student who fails to complete a school or college course

2. a person who rejects conventional society

3.  drop-out.  rugby a drop kick taken by the defending team to restart play, as after a touchdown

4.  drop-out.  electronics a momentary loss of signal in a magnetic recording medium as a result of an imperfection in its magnetic coating

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verb

1. to abandon or withdraw from (a school, social group, job, etc)

Etymology

Origin of dropout

1925–30, noun use of verb phrase drop out

Example Sentences

Other analysts cautioned about worrying too much about the large number of dropouts, writing that the rigid structure of the trial doesn’t reflect how the drug might be used in clinical practice.

From Barron's

Pro prospect players and their reps have already concluded that the non-playoff bowls are a waste of time–witness the annual parade of dropouts and thinned out rosters toiling in these games.

From The Wall Street Journal

New courses in AI, hospitality and engineering are among those set to be on offer, but concerns remain about high dropout rates.

From BBC

They include scientists, college dropouts and former Marines.

From The Wall Street Journal

Gordon Hall, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Oregon, explained that Asian Americans have high dropout rates after going to therapy.

From Los Angeles Times