pout
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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pouts,
present (3rd person singular)
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pouted,
past participle, past
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pouting
present participle
verb (used with object)
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pouts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
pouted,
past participle, past
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pouting
present participle
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to protrude (the lips).
-
to utter with a pout.
noun
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the act of pouting; a protrusion of the lips.
-
a fit of sullenness.
to be in a pout.
noun
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pout,
plural
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pouts
plural
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a northern marine food fish, Trisopterus luscus.
verb
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to thrust out (the lips), as when sullen, or (of the lips) to be thrust out
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(intr) to swell out; protrude
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(tr) to utter with a pout
noun
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(sometimes the pouts) a fit of sullenness
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the act or state of pouting
noun
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short for horned pout eelpout
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any of various gadoid food fishes, esp the bib (also called whiting pout )
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any of certain other stout-bodied fishes
Usage
What does pout mean? To pout is to act in a gloomy and irritated way; to mope or sulk. Children sometimes pout when they don’t get their way, often by sitting with their arms crossed and a specific look on their face: a kind of frown with the lips pushed out (sometimes just the bottom lip). This expression is also called a pout. The term is typically used in the context of young children, but it can be applied to adults in some situations. Example: My toddler pouts when he doesn’t get his way, but I guess it’s better than throwing a tantrum.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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poutsimple
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poutssimple
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have poutedperfect
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has poutedperfect
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am poutingprogressive
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are poutingprogressive
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is poutingprogressive
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have been poutingperfect progressive
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has been poutingperfect progressive
Past
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poutedsimple
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had poutedperfect
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was poutingprogressive
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were poutingprogressive
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had been poutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pout1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English pouten; probably from Old Norse; compare Swedish dialect puta “to be inflated,” Norwegian (noun) “pute ”
Origin of pout2
First recorded before 1000; Old English -pūta, in ǣlepūta “eelpout” (not recorded in Middle English ); akin to Low German pūtāl and aalputte “eelpout,” Dutch puit “frog”
Explanation
When something doesn’t go your way and you get annoyed about it, that’s a pout. And when you let the world know about it by thrusting out your lower lip, you are pouting. Get over it. When you pout, you’re expressing annoyance or displeasure. It’s a sulky kind of gesture, one that involves a facial expression more than words — in fact, a pout is often accompanied by a moody silence. The verb form of pout describes the action, and the noun form describes the facial expression. Maybe it's not a coincidence that a pout is also a type of fish. Pouting faces are a bit fish-like in their expressions.
Vocabulary lists containing pout
Bud, Not Buddy
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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Stargirl
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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:
Lady Beckham's pout became her defining look in the 1990s.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2025
Yes, the heart-shaped lips and resting pout do some heavy lifting to pull off the baseball-loving mama’s boy, but Butler’s authenticity is irrefutable.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2025
“I had a great mentor in Kobe that didn’t necessarily let me pout or get down on myself. His thing was always, ‘All right, what’s next?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025
But Balcer refused to fold or let the fan base pout.
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024
I pout, but MiSSSisss WaSShington says every language has annoyances and illogical rules, as well as sensible beauty.
From "Inside Out and Back Again" by Thanhha Lai
“It’s so hard being a woman in 1973,” she pouts, still sprawled.
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2023
The love interest in Sara Jafari's "The Mismatch" is a British lad with all the embarrassment that entails; wearing running shorts in the winter, posting shirtless selfies where he pouts at the camera.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2022
She pouts a little because she thinks I’m not committed to the new dynamic.
From Slate ● Apr. 14, 2021
Avery pouts at the selection but Jenny reminds her, “‘My Little Pony’ is for weekends and vacations.”
From Washington Post ● May 7, 2020
I didn’t have to shift my eyes to see mile-long pouts on Vonetta and Fern.
From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia
According to NBC News, he whined "no one is defending me" and pouted over the fact that there wasn't a big crowd of protesters outside.
From Salon ● May 10, 2024
So James Harden whined and insulted and pouted and basically quit his way from Philadelphia to the Clippers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
I bought her a gift like I did Lana and Sophie, but once I gave Lana the gift card, she whined and pouted.
From Slate ● Oct. 12, 2023
So I responded as a typical teenager: I pouted, with my arms crossed, stubbornly refusing to enjoy it.
From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2023
Jason pouted, as the elevator doors started to open.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
And yet the pouting Pratt pulled more than 200,000 votes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026
They looked like pouting kids on the playground—not the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic, two of the hottest names in the AI scene.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
I had snapped a photo earlier in which he appeared to be pouting.
From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2026
In Silicon Valley, you have the Elon Musk and Peter Thiel breed, who have made billions of dollars yet spend most of their time pouting because middle class journalists on Twitter think they're dumb.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2024
Hadley’s lower lip was pouting, and the way her voice wobbled, I thought she might have a meltdown.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
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.
