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

Explanation

A dropout is someone who doesn't finish a project or program, especially school. If you quit high school before you graduate, some people will call you a dropout. Whenever you quit something, or don't follow through on a commitment, you risk being called a dropout, which is a fairly derogatory term for someone who withdraws, quits, or drops out. If you withdraw from college after one semester, you might jokingly describe yourself as a college dropout. The word dates from about 1930.

Example Sentences

China's economy was just starting to open up in the late 1980s when a determined high school dropout made his way to Beijing with 600 pairs of shoes.

From BBC • Apr. 26, 2026

Anna, a culinary school dropout, is drifting from gig to gig, grieving her mother, who was a chef, when she meets Matteo at a hotel bar.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

Milton, a college dropout turned serial entrepreneur, has had a mixed record with all his businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

"Findings from my research showed that impostorism predicted poorer overall mental health, greater burnout, and increased consideration of dropout among graduate women in STEM," she said.

From Science Daily • Jan. 5, 2026

A high school dropout, he used to work for a landscaping company; it went out of business, and he had to come to the offices to request a permit to hunt for another job.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane