First recorded in 1595–1605
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In terms of performance, the bank scored higher net interest income, a closely-watched benchmark measuring the difference between revenue from lending and outward-bound interest payments.
From Barron's ● Jan. 13, 2026
No conflicts for Tiler Peck’s incisive Sanguinic: She was all full-throttle, outward-bound momentum.
From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2018
On distant seas, their dragon-prows went gleaming outward-bound ship.
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2015
IT IS hard to rise to the top in business without doing an outward-bound course.
From Economist ● Oct. 2, 2014
In scores of cases I observed that the outward-bound ant, when it had been lost and returned to the path, always came on the homeward side of the landmark and passed out.
From The Speech of Monkeys by Garner, Richard Lynch
Today, remnants of the fortress can still be found during a hike through the park, along with ropes courses owned by Outward Bound.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2022
Klein had worked with local conservation groups like Outward Bound Adventures, Tree People and Heal the Bay, and was familiar with the L.A. park system’s many unknown or underused amphitheaters and gathering places.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2022
But Halm, who spent 10 years as an instructor and director at the Northwest Outward Bound School, didn’t wait until her first child was pulk-sized.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2022
A coalition of Scottish outdoor organisations - including Girlguiding, The Outward Bound Trust and the Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres - has warned that "more will follow and shut down permanently before Christmas".
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2020
“I swear. This guy I know told me. He was an Outward Bound guide.”
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
