hangout
Americannoun
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hangouts
plural
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a place where people gather for casual socializing or recreation.
The pub is an ultracasual hangout, mostly frequented by undergraduates from the local university.
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a place that a person frequently visits, especially for socializing or recreation.
The record store was one of my favorite neighborhood hangouts when I was a kid.
verb phrase
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to lean or be suspended through an opening.
If you hang out the window that far, you're likely to fall right out!
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to suspend in open view; display.
Her family hangs out the flag every day, not just on holidays.
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Informal. to frequent a particular place, especially in one's free time.
We’ve all got friends who would rather hang out at a bookstore with a glass of wine than go clubbing.
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Informal. to linger or loiter somewhere.
We’ve got nothing better to do, so we’ll probably just hang out.
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Informal. to spend time with someone.
I’d love the chance to hang out with some like-minded folks.
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Informal. to wait, especially briefly.
Hang out a minute while I get my backpack.
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Slang. to calm down.
Hang out, Mom, I'm OK.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hangout
An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; noun use of verb phrase hang 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.
See Examples For:
With little money at their disposal, the streets make for the ultimate hangout spot, and every weekend, young people turn out to dance and rollerblade all along Havana's Paseo del Prado.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Don’t forget to check out Season 2 of the very funny Gen-Z hangout comedy “Adults,” which dropped at the end of August.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026
“This is not so much a music festival, it’s a huge hangout of people that love a similar culture,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
He was a regular at the former sea lion hangout just south of the Golden Gate known as Seal Rocks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
Cronies of theirs in other squadrons began dropping in unashamedly and using the tent as a hangout.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
He uses AI for everything, from video editing and back-end coding to scheduling hangouts with friends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
All that promise started to wither around 2015, as social media giants gobbled up more and more of the profits that kept earlier hangouts afloat.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
The hegemony of claw machines has also gone hand in hand with a gradual transformation of urban hangouts.
From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025
It follows an announcement in November that Roblox would be barring under-13s from "social hangouts", where players can communicate with each other using text or voice messages, from Monday.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2024
We can plan hangouts instead of the good old days where we would just show up at each other’s apartments.
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
