lockout
Americannoun
-
lockouts
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lockout
First recorded in 1850–55; noun use of verb phrase lock out
Explanation
A lockout is a company's response to workers who are disputing conditions or planning a strike. During a lockout, managers don't allow workers to come to work until they agree to the company's terms of employment. A lockout is sort of the opposite of a strike. During a strike, employees refuse to work until management agrees to compromise with them on issues like wages and working conditions. During a lockout, the company refuses to allow workers access to the workplace until they settle for the terms the owners and managers want to enforce. Sometimes just the threat of a lockout is enough to suppress protests and strikes.
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:
There is little hope Major League Baseball can avoid a lockout, but players and owners should be able to reach a deal on playing in the LA28 Olympics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Should competing platforms adopt equivalent commitments, the overnight lockout would widen to 10 pm to 7 am and the daily allowance would fall to 60 minutes per app, capped at two hours in total.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Permission to stay can be terminated with appropriate notice, typically 10 days, although you cannot use threats, force, or an unlawful lockout.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026
The airline issued a lockout notice in response.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
The lockout software also monitored my dietary intake.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Sami Pajari finished 46sec behind to complete the podium and make Toyota the first manufacturer since Citroen in 2010 to claim back-to-back podium lockouts in the WRC.
From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026
He holds a heavy hammer and has used it to impose three lockouts, taking the drastic step of canceling the 2004-05 season to get a hard salary cap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2023
The Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations Labor Action Tracker logged 424 work stoppages - which includes 417 strikes and seven lockouts - involving approximately 224,000 workers in 2022.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 28, 2023
The PMA and the ILWU, which represents about 22,000 dockworkers on the West Coast, had pledged not to comment in the media and to continue working without issues such as slowdowns or lockouts.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
In the month of May alone, unions across the nation battled with employers in 413 strikes and lockouts.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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.
