outgo
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to go beyond; outdistance.
to outgo the minimum rquirements.
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to surpass, excel, or outdo.
Each child was encouraged to outgo the others.
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Archaic. to go faster than; excel in speed.
verb
noun
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cost; outgoings; outlay
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something that goes out; outflow
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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outgosimple
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outgoessimple
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have outgoneperfect
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has outgoneperfect
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am outgoingprogressive
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are outgoingprogressive
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is outgoingprogressive
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have been outgoingperfect progressive
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has been outgoingperfect progressive
Past
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outwentsimple
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had outgoneperfect
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was outgoingprogressive
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were outgoingprogressive
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had been outgoingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of outgo
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:
Our outgo is a small fraction of these figures.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 2, 2026
Commodities funds' data showed precious metal funds suffered outflows of $354 million in a ninth straight week of net selling, while energy funds had a second weekly outgo, although a marginal $5 million.
From Reuters ● Aug. 26, 2022
Data for commodities funds showed, gold and precious metal funds recorded a sixth weekly outflow, valued at $382 million, while energy funds had a marginal outgo of $48 million.
From Reuters ● Aug. 5, 2022
The federal budget is a very detailed estimate of receipts and expenditures, an anticipation of federal income and outgo, during the next fiscal year.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2016
When it is all outgo and no come-in the meal tub pretty soon gets empty.
From Ruth Fielding Homeward Bound A Red Cross Worker's Ocean Perils by Emerson, Alice B.
"States need to contain and rationalise their subsidy outgoes, so that such spending does not crowd out more productive expenditure."
From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2025
The Indies have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater than her incomes.”
From Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 by Sylvester, Charles Herbert
But to be more particular, for it is complained that Mr. Coleman has reported chiefly the expensive experiments of gentlemen farmers, my outgoes were,— For a hoe...................................
From Walden by Thoreau, Henry David
On Sundays the poor debtor goes to church to take an account of stock, and finds, of course, that his outgoes have been greater than his income.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 72, October, 1863 by Various
This thirty years' war against high prices, this perpetual study of economics, this life-long attempt to keep the outgoes less than the income, exhausts millions of housekeepers.
From The Wedding Ring A Series of Discourses for Husbands and Wives and Those Contemplating Matrimony by Talmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
And he unknit the peace-strings from about Boardcleaver, and drew him forth so that a clear humming noise went forth into the sunlit air, and spurred on so hard that he outwent every man there.
From The Sundering Flood by Morris, May
Lilly's Memoirs" we have the following account of him:— "Kelly outwent the Doctor—viz., about the elixir and philosopher's stone, which neither he nor his master attained by their own labour and industry.
From Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 by Roby, John
Indeed, we cannot say that at all points Shakspere outwent his guide.
From Montaigne and Shakspere by Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Mr. Smith's character grew upon his friends by intimacy, and outwent the strongest prepossessions which had been conceived in his favour.
From Lives of the Poets, Volume 1 by Johnson, Samuel
She sprang to greet him with an eagerness that outwent all shyness.
From Greatheart by Dell, Ethel M. (Ethel May)
As they parted in the riotous dawn, Mario gave Lauro's city soccer team a $200,000 South American soccer player in token of friendship, and the mayor, not to be outgone, promised Mario a yacht.
From Time Magazine Archive
For me, while some of my friends have thought me exacting, I may say Ossoli has always outgone my expectations in the disinterestedness, the uncompromising bounty, of his every act.
From Woman in the Ninteenth Century and Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition and Duties, of Woman. by Fuller, Margaret
In his 'Ode on St. Cecilia's Day' Pope is generally confessed to have miscarried; yet he has miscarried only as compared with Dryden, for he has far outgone other competitors.
From Six Centuries of English Poetry Tennyson to Chaucer by Baldwin, James
Lyly nor any of our late nineteenth-century "stylists" has outgone, perhaps none has touched, Eustathius in euphuism.
From The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) by Saintsbury, George
Damaris gazed upon him with brown, incredulous eyes, and when she spoke her words came somewhat breathlessly, having quite outgone the courtly affectation of similes run mad.
From Sir Mortimer by Johnston, Mary
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky was among those to pay tribute to the outgoing prime minister who is due to leave his post next week.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Barzar makes a good self-checkout employee because he is outgoing, attentive to detail and his voice carries, said Erik Fila, a register-area supervisor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Hinson, the outgoing representative of Florida’s 21st House district, told Salon that Nixon has been a “leading force in protest” against the opposition in the Florida Legislature since she arrived there in 2020.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Perversely, the new legal regime can also give an outgoing president enormous control.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
On Inauguration Eve, he'd been invited to dinner with outgoing President Hayes.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
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.
