verb
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to stay longer than
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to stay beyond (a limit)
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See overstay
Etymology
Origin of outstay
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.
Not so with “Burt,” the movie equivalent of a cherry sour drop on a day when you need something a little tart, a tad sweet and that won’t outstay its welcome.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
"The worst thing you can do with a comedy is to outstay your welcome."
From Salon ● Nov. 11, 2024
“I didn’t want to outstay my welcome,” he said on a recent video call, from the study of his home in Portland, Ore., a black-and-white diptych of the playwright Samuel Beckett behind him.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2023
It was Southgate himself who introduced the subject last summer when he stated: "I won't outstay my welcome."
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2022
I’ve got two weeks here—I need to make absolutely sure I don’t outstay my welcome.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
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.
