step out
Britishverb
-
to go outside or leave a room, building, etc, esp briefly
-
to begin to walk more quickly and take longer strides
-
informal to withdraw from involvement; bow out
-
informal to be a boyfriend or girlfriend (of someone), esp publicly
-
Walk briskly, as in He stepped out in time to the music . [c. 1800]
-
Also, step outside . Go outside briefly, as in He just stepped out for a cigarette . [First half of 1500s]
-
Go out for an evening of entertainment, as in They're stepping out again tonight .
-
step out with . Accompany or consort with a person as when going on a date, as in She's been stepping out with him for a month . [ Colloquial ; early 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.
Max and I stepped out of the building, and the cool night temperatures were beginning to settle.
From Literature
![]()
He opens his mouth to say something, but at that moment, the muted thumping from inside amplifies when Zara steps out, and he doesn’t.
From Literature
![]()
In a hotel lobby on Hong Kong Island, a delivery robot pauses outside one of the lifts as the doors open, and a guest steps out.
From BBC
And so he steps out of line to test his theory.
From Los Angeles Times
As I step out into this next phase of life, I do sometimes find myself missing the chaos of Hanoi or the wide-open spaces of the Australian outback.
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.