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Synonyms

out of the woods

Idioms  

  1. Out of difficulties, danger or trouble, as in We're through the worst of the recession—we're out of the woods now, or That pneumonia was serious, but Charles is finally out of the woods. This expression, alluding to having been lost in a forest, dates from Roman times; it was first recorded in English in 1792. The British usage is out of the wood.

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.

So while the market seems relatively unscathed by the war right now, stocks are far from being out of the woods just yet.

From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026

However, the vultures aren’t yet out of the woods.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 5, 2026

Despite the upbeat results, Brown-Forman and the spirits market as a whole are certainly not out of the woods yet.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 4, 2026

Another positive dataset would firm up expectations that the city’s economy is out of the woods, coming after GDP data showed improvements in 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

Sometimes she would hold out her hand and birds would fly out of the woods to settle on her arm—lorikeets, parrots, doves.

From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan

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.