tout
Americanverb (used without object)
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touts,
present (3rd person singular)
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touted,
past participle, past
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touting
present participle
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to persistently solicit business, employment, votes, or the like.
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Horse Racing. to act as a tout.
verb (used with object)
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touts,
present (3rd person singular)
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touted,
past participle, past
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touting
present participle
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to persistently solicit support for.
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to describe or advertise boastfully; publicize or promote; praise extravagantly.
a highly touted nightclub.
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Horse Racing.
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to provide information on (a horse) running in a particular race, especially for a fee.
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to spy on (a horse in training) in order to gain information for the purpose of betting.
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to watch; spy on.
noun
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touts
plural
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a person who persistently solicits business, employment, support, or the like.
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Horse Racing.
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a person who gives information on a horse, especially for a fee.
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Chiefly British. a person who spies on a horse in training for the purpose of betting.
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British. a ticket scalper.
verb
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to solicit (business, customers, etc) or hawk (merchandise), esp in a brazen way
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(intr)
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to spy on racehorses being trained in order to obtain information for betting purposes
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to sell, or attempt to sell, such information or to take bets, esp in public places
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informal (tr) to recommend flatteringly or excessively
noun
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a person who spies on racehorses so as to obtain betting information to sell
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a person who sells information obtained by such spying
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a person who solicits business in a brazen way
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Also called: ticket tout. a person who sells tickets unofficially for a heavily booked sporting event, concert, etc, at greatly inflated prices
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a police informer
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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toutsimple
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toutssimple
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have toutedperfect
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has toutedperfect
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am toutingprogressive
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are toutingprogressive
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is toutingprogressive
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have been toutingperfect progressive
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has been toutingperfect progressive
Past
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toutedsimple
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had toutedperfect
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was toutingprogressive
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were toutingprogressive
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had been toutingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tout
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Middle English tuten “to look out, peer”; probably akin to Old English tōtian “to peep out”
Explanation
To tout means to praise, boast, or brag about. If you like to tout your skill as a skier, you tell people you can go down expert-level hills. Sometimes parents will get into bragging wars about their children, each touting the accomplishments of his or her child. Sometimes the word means more of "to claim." The company touted the lotion as a solution to wrinkles. Broccoli has been touted as the cancer-fighting vegetable. In England, a tout is a person who gives advice about gambling. If you're looking to play some money on the ponies, go see the tout who hangs out at Jackie’s bar for a tip.
Vocabulary lists containing tout
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This Week In Words: April 12–18, 2020
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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:
Yet at a recent gathering in Sacramento, those in the nascent industry continued to tout the potential of a fuel they hope will turn around and thrive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
While many such companies tout exciting growth prospects around data centers, Exelon has been “weeding out speculative data-center projects” by demanding so-called transmission security agreements, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Banks, airlines and influencers tout a jet-setting life via reward cards, but there are plenty of catches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
As the nation became the dominant form of political organization in the 19th century, some countries started to tout their long civilizational history as part of their identity.
From Slate ● Jul. 4, 2026
Brother Quang remembers Father often said tuyett sut, the Vietnamese way to pronounce the French phrase tout de suite meaning right away.
From "Inside Out and Back Again" by Thanhha Lai
The World Heritage Yak Conservancy’s website touts the singular charm of the animal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
On its website, the company touts its ability to transmit funds to China in four hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Competitor Robinsons now touts "28 solar-powered malls", while Ayala has arrays atop 13.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
When we parked up, I recall Wembley being besieged by ticket touts who were looking to sell.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
English-speaking touts shook dirty cards in their faces.
From The Great House by Stanley John Weyman
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri took the stand on Tuesday and admitted he touted newly launched safety tools for teens without disclosing low adoption rates from early testing several years ago.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
The Chatham fighter has been touted as the heir to the heavyweight throne, while Joshua and Fury have agreed to meet later this year in their long-awaited all-British showdown.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Plus I’d loved teaching, and for years my employer had offered me praise, awards and touted the high return-student ratio I’d helped to build.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
European fossil fuel companies that once touted renewable goals, including Shell, BP and Norway’s Equinor, have dialed them back and doubled down on more profitable oil and gas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
The Levittown Shop-a-Rama, site of the Kennedy campaign rally and touted as “the largest shopping mall east of the Mississippi,” was anchored by a Sears and another department store called Pomeroy’s.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
The post-coup leadership was isolated for five years but has started a diplomatic offensive, touting deeply restricted polls it staged around the start of 2026 as a return to normality.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Canada and the US are finalising a highly anticipated trade deal, with President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney touting it as a success.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Maybe they can get tenure by embracing and touting these ideas and getting a citation from a Supreme Court justice, maybe even a majority opinion.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2026
It's "bottoms down" for the Daily Star, as it says Westminster City Council is "touting a 'no standing' plan" in pubs.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
In fact, the “bloodbath” school of criminology was touting exactly the opposite theory—that an increase in the teenage share of the population would produce a crop of superpredators who would lay the nation low.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
