exit

[eg-zit, ek-sit]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR exit ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a way or passage out: Please leave the theater by the nearest exit.

any of the marked ramps or spurs providing egress from a highway: Take the second exit after the bridge for the downtown shopping district.

a going out or away; departure: to make one's exit.

a departure of an actor from the stage as part of the action of a play.

Also called exit card. Bridge. a card that enables a player to relinquish the lead when having it is a disadvantage.

verb (used without object)

to go out; leave.

Bridge. to play an exit card.

verb (used with object)

to leave; depart from: Sign out before you exit the building.

Origin of exit

1580–90; partly < Latin exitus act or means of going out, equivalent to exi-, variant stem of exīre to go out (ex- ex-¹ + īre to go) + -tus suffix of v. action; partly noun, v. use of exit²

Can be confusedexcited exited

exit

[eg-zit, ek-sit]

verb (used without object)

(he or she) goes offstage (used as a stage direction, often preceding the name of the character): Exit Falstaff.

Origin of exit

1530–40; < Latin ex(i)it literally, (he) goes out, 3rd singular present of exīre; see exit¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for exit

gate, door, opening, retirement, exodus, withdrawal, departure, farewell, demise, evacuation, retreat, blow, quit, depart, retire, withdraw, vent, hole, egress, avenue

Examples from the Web for exit

Contemporary Examples of exit

In 2012, Obama narrowly beat Mitt Romney among Florida Cubans, according to exit polls.
Rubio’s Embargo Anger Plays to the Past
Michael Tomasky
December 19, 2014
Will these resurrected animals be house-trained and know to exit the pearly gates before doing their business?
Sorry, Internet: Pope Francis Didn't Open Paradise to Pets
Candida Moss
December 14, 2014
But not until Gregory Peck is humiliated and walks out do we cut high and long to show his exit.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014
As you exit your teenage years, are there artist you would like to emulate?
Portrait of the Austin Mahone as a Teen Idol
William O’Connor
December 10, 2014
By contrast, in 2012, the military vote split down the middle between Obama and Romney, according to exit polls.
2016 Is No Democratic Slam Dunk
Lloyd Green
December 1, 2014

Historical Examples of exit

I fetched up at an exit on the side street, and there they were directly in front of me.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
There were no less than four different means of exit from the park.
Henry Dunbar
M. E. Braddon
I tell you all this, dear, in justice to the man; and so, exit Bagley.
The Mystery of Murray Davenport
Robert Neilson Stephens
"Mr. Hendricks and Liane are at the exit, asking to see me," I snapped.
Priestess of the Flame
Sewell Peaslee Wright
With one accord the four of us dashed to the exit, Dival and I in the lead.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science September 1930
Various

British Dictionary definitions for exit

exit

noun

a way out; door or gate by which people may leave

the act or an instance of going out; departure

the act of leaving or right to leave a particular place
(as modifier)an exit visa

departure from life; death

theatre the act of going offstage

(in Britain) a point at which vehicles may leave or join a motorway

bridge

the act of losing the lead deliberately
a card enabling one to do this

verb (intr)

to go away or out; depart; leave

theatre to go offstage: used as a stage directionexit Hamlet

bridge to lose the lead deliberately

(sometimes tr) computing to leave (a computer program or system)

Word Origin for exit

C17: from Latin exitus a departure, from exīre to go out, from ex- 1 + īre to go

Exit

noun

(in Britain) a society that seeks to promote the legitimization of voluntary euthanasia

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for exit

1530s, from Latin exit "he or she goes out," third person singular present indicative of exire "go out," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + ire "to go" (see ion).

Also from Latin exitus "a leaving, a going out," noun of action from exire. Originally in English a Latin stage direction (late 15c.); sense of "door for leaving" is 1786. Meaning "departure" (originally from the stage) is from 1580s. The verb is c.1600, from the noun; it ought to be left to stage directions and the clunky jargon of police reports.

Those who neither know Latin nor read plays are apt to forget or not know that this is a singular verb with plural exeunt. [Fowler]

Related: Exited; exiting.