outreach
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
adjective
verb
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(tr) to surpass in reach
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(tr) to go beyond
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to reach or cause to reach out
noun
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the act or process of reaching out
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the length or extent of reach
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social welfare any systematic effort to provide unsolicited and predefined help to groups or individuals deemed to need it
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(modifier) (of welfare work or workers) propagating take-up of a service by seeking out appropriate people and persuading them to accept what is judged good for them Compare detached
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of outreach
Explanation
When medical care or other services are delivered to people in their community, it's through outreach. Your local animal shelter might conduct outreach programs to provide affordable vaccines to pet owners. When a person or organization reaches out to others, that's outreach. Churches, political groups, public health departments, and educators all offer outreach, extending some kind of helping hand or useful information to the wider community. You can also use this word to mean "exceed," like when demand for a new gaming console outreaches the available supply, or when a tennis player with longer arms can outreach an opponent by being able to hit a ball from farther away.
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.
See Examples For:
It’s largely luck, the right outreach person in the right place at the right time, or a cop who has taken the time and care to know what the resources are.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
More outreach is needed to teach at-risk populations about brain health and tackling underlying chronic diseases that contribute to risks for cognitive decline, AARP’s Rodriguez said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
In a July 2 press briefing, he said, “We have received no information. No updates. If there has been any direct outreach I am unaware of it. I don’t want to speculate about anybody’s health.”
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
About two weeks after Allbritton’s outreach, Uthmeier replied: the church likely owned the land beneath the street, and the city shouldn’t require the church to pay fair market value for the street.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
I am told by Will that I should not fear Carolinian numbers so much as Virginian sharpshooters, who, armed with rifles, can far outreach the musket in range and fatal accuracy.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Efforts by Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia in recent days were similarly fruitless, people familiar with those outreaches said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
Of all the ancient cultures clustered around the eastern half of the Mediterranean Sea, whether Egypt, Greece, Persia or Rome’s imperial outreaches, Thrace is surely the least well-known.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2025
While the early Christian church was composed almost entirely of Jewish believers in Jesus, present day outreaches to Jews have been controversial.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
The 60-day period of footage shows people moving boxes from the basement storage area around the time of one of the outreaches from the Justice Department.
From New York Times ● Aug. 26, 2022
Beginning together, the latter far outreaches the former.
From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by Alger, William Rounseville
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.
