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

The set list is expected to range from his 2004 debut The College Dropout, to later albums like 2007's Graduation and 2016's The Life of Pablo.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

Even going back to its CollegeHumor roots, by providing the streaming infrastructure for the site’s successful relaunch as Dropout TV, didn’t help the bottom line.

From Slate • Jan. 23, 2026

Dropout rates subsequently fell, and student retention improved.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 12, 2026

Dropout also taps into social media when developing ideas for new shows: Its recent stand-up-based series “Crowd Control” was inspired by a recent boom in crowd work comedy driven by TikTok and social media algorithms.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 14, 2025

Since the company’s productions aren’t staffed entirely by union employees, Dropout engages in profit-sharing in lieu of traditional residuals.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 14, 2025