go out
Britishverb
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to depart from a room, house, country, etc
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to cease to illuminate, burn, or function
the fire has gone out
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to cease to be fashionable or popular
that style went out ages ago!
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to become unconscious or fall asleep
she went out like a light
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(of a broadcast) to be transmitted
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to go to entertainments, social functions, etc
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to associate (with a person of the opposite sex) regularly; date
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(of workers) to begin to strike
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(foll by to) to be extended (to)
our sympathy went out to her on the death of her sister
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cards to get rid of the last card, token, etc, in one's hand
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to make a great effort to achieve or obtain something
he went all out to pass the exam
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Be extinguished, as in All the lights went out . [c. 1400]
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Die; also, faint. For example, I want to go out before I become senile , or At the sight of blood he went out like a light . The first usage dates from about 1700 and was at first put go out of the world . For the variant, see under out cold .
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Take part in social life outside the home, as in We go out a lot during the holiday season . This usage dates from the second half of the 1700s and gave rise to go out with someone , meaning “to date someone.”
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Stop working, as in To show their support of the auto workers, the steel workers went out too . This expression is short for go out on strike . [Late 1800s]
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Become unfashionable, as in Bell-bottom pants went out in the 1970s but made a comeback in the 1990s. This usage is sometimes amplified to go out of fashion or go out of style , as in This kind of film has gone out of fashion , or These boots are going out of style . [Late 1400s]
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Cease to function as before. This sense appears in go out of print , said of a book that will no longer be printed. Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with go out .
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.
"The first line would be the platforms, because they're the ones that are the enablers. They're the ones that allow this to go out," he told the BBC.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
“I can’t just go out every day and shop for a new product at Target,” Mottet said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Oddie also urged people to go out and experience the natural world.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
"If families are looking to go out and eat out it can get extortionate after a while," he added.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
They go out of their way to compliment my perfectly arched eyebrows, but they completely ignore the mustache that I’m starting to grow.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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.
