outreach
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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outreaches
plural
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:
Standing in 100-degree plus heat, outreach worker Dawn Hollins talked on her cellphone searching for a place to take her in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
While some young users appreciated the outreach, many were still sceptical about its timing.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The developments have overshadowed the Lee administration's outreach, including the Woljeong-ri project aimed at "eventual" reconciliation.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The result has left many in Michigan’s Jewish community wary of El-Sayed and looking for outreach from him and his campaign to assuage their concerns.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
Observe: We’re a week out from November, and it’s starting to get chilly, so Jupe organizes this community outreach thing she calls Burgers and Blankets.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
Despite having his antenna up, Russell says he was initially taken in by a couple of phony outreaches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 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
Many of their educational and health care outreaches are on hold.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 14, 2022
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
The idea is conveyed of an object that invites our observation and pursuit, but which at every step outreaches apprehension, each discovery revealing depths within it unperceived before.
From The Expositor's Bible: Ephesians by G. G. Findlay
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.
