fill out
Britishverb
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to make or become fuller, thicker, or rounder
her figure has filled out since her marriage
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to make more substantial
the writers were asked to fill their stories out
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(tr) to complete (a form, application, etc)
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Complete by supplying required information, especially in writing. For example, Please fill out the application form , or I don't quite understand this drawing, so fill out the details . [Late 1800s]
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Become enlarged, distended, rounded in outline. For example, The wind filled out the sails , or He's put on weight and really filled out . Applied to objects, this expression dates from about 1700, but to persons or animals becoming fatter, only from the late 1800s.
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.
And that’s when you have to fill out the form.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
"If that's something that gets people back in the seats and re-interested in a classic that has to just continuously fill out that auditorium, then I would say that's a good thing."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
It shouldn’t be this hard to fill out an expense report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The rough share of Common App partner colleges now using “direct admissions” to accept students who didn’t even fill out an application.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
She gives my mom a clipboard with paperwork to fill out, then leans forward a little and says to me, “Hank will have you walking again in no time. He’s really good.”
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
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.
