rut

¹ American  

[ruht] / rʌt /

noun

1. 

   a furrow or track in the ground, especially one made by the passage of a vehicle or vehicles.

2. any furrow, groove, etc.

3. a fixed or established mode of procedure or course of life, usually dull or unpromising.

   to fall into a rut.

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verb (used with object)

rutted, rutting

1. to make a rut or ruts in; furrow.

rut ² American  

[ruht] / rʌt /

noun

1. the periodically recurring sexual excitement of the deer, goat, sheep, etc.

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verb (used without object)

rutted, rutting

1. to be in the condition of rut.

rut ¹ British  

/ rʌt /

noun

1. a groove or furrow in a soft road, caused by wheels

2. any deep mark, hole, or groove

3. a narrow or predictable way of life, set of attitudes, etc; dreary or undeviating routine (esp in the phrase in a rut )

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verb

1. (tr) to make a rut or ruts in

rut ² British  

/ rʌt /

noun

1. a recurrent period of sexual excitement and reproductive activity in certain male ruminants, such as the deer, that corresponds to the period of oestrus in females

2. another name for oestrus

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verb

1. (intr) (of male ruminants) to be in a period of sexual excitement and activity

rut Idioms  

1. see in a rut.

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Etymology

Origin of rut¹

First recorded in 1570–80; perhaps variant of route

Origin of rut²

1375–1425; late Middle English rutte < Middle French rut, ruit < Late Latin rugītus a roaring, equivalent to Latin rugī ( re ) to roar + -tus suffix of v. action

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Explanation

A rut is a groove in the earth, like an indent caused by wheels. It's also a boring routine that can be hard to break. If you’re stuck in a rut, you’ve been doing the same old thing for too long. If you see a groove in the ground, especially one caused by a bike or car, that's a rut. If a rut is deep enough, you could get stuck in it, which may be why the word has another meaning. If your life has become boring, stale, and monotonous, you're in a rut. Someone who works the same job for decades may feel like they're in a rut and need to make a change.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rut rutted rutting

Big picture: The U.S. labor market is stuck in a rut.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026

To be in a cosy rut is about the sickest thing ever, I think.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

If you’re in a cooking rut: It can feel absolutely exhausting to try to craft beautiful meals from scratch every night.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026

To break out of their rut, they began working their way through the cuisines of every country in the world at local restaurants and documenting their experience on social media.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

She steamed past the fancy brick entrance to the golf course and soon the paved road gave way to a dirt rut, with no curbs or streetlights.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

The town moves from pitying her to whispering that she’s crazy, leaving her rutted in the anger stage of the grieving process.

From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2026

We drove his body back along the rutted mountain pathways to the coastal city of Split.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Dipak Magar, 39, is proud of the small house he has built on a bend of a rutted road.

From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026

Costa Rica’s Pacuare Lodge is so remote that visitors must arrive via white-water raft, by air or on a rutted 4WD-only road.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025

This is in a small town in Jiangsu province, outside Shanghai, a place of dusty shops and rutted roads, of timber and clay — a place where every noise has a known source.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

Compared with conventional asphalt, PMA is more flexible and better able to resist cracking, rutting, and water damage, making it well suited to Hawaii's tropical climate.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026

Deer are currently in rutting season, when males attempt to establish their dominance against other males as part of their reproductive strategy.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 7, 2023

“Many people specifically go to Kincaid Park in the fall to photograph and view rutting behavior.”

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 31, 2023

It's elk rutting season out West, but how is their nails-on-chalkboard call attractive to females?

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2022

At this time of year, the Forest should be echoing with the bellows of rutting red deer, and the clash of their antlers as they fought for females.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

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