rule out
Britishverb
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to dismiss from consideration
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to make impossible; preclude or prevent
the rain ruled out outdoor games
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Eliminate from consideration, exclude, as in The option of starting over again has been ruled out . [Second half of 1800s]
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Prevent, make impossible, as in The snowstorm ruled out our weekly rehearsal . [First half of 1900s]
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.
That wouldn’t rule out housing on the site, but it would give a team more flexibility to build whatever project might be considered most profitable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Cleveland Police said it was "keeping an open mind and cannot rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time".
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Bessent did not rule out the possibility of Chinese banks being targeted, and vowed that any entity "that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the US dollar system".
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
It is also important to identify what we call deal-breakers — factors that automatically rule out a location no matter how favorable everything else seems to be.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Because Charles valued Gray’s friendship and needed his help in promoting natural selection, he did not rule out the possibility.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
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.
