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:
Queen Camilla has been running her Queen's Reading Room project for five years, a kind of mega book club, with festivals and events and outreach projects, such as bringing books to homeless shelters.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Society chairman Philip Osman said a permanent observatory would encourage participation and also give the group the opportunity to organise community outreach activities.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
“MacArthur Park’s progress belongs to the residents, workers, promotoras, outreach teams, and community organizations who do this critical, lifesaving work every single day,” Roochnik said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Ms. Berg acknowledges that much of the museum’s outreach to Berlin’s Muslim communities was discontinued after Oct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Hyacinth felt responsible for the failed outreach as she watched Jessie mope; after all, Jessie had wanted Hyacinth to do the first Beiderman mission.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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
While the early Christian church was composed almost entirely of Jewish believers in Jesus, present day outreaches to Jews have been controversial.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
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
So far as concerned any splash of tabasco red, however, he might better have been seeking a maverick on the outreaches of Hellroaring.
From Lonesome Town by Ethel Dorrance
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.
