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Synonyms

wait out

Idioms  

  1. Delay until the end of something, as in They waited out the war in Paris. This expression comes from baseball, where it alludes to the batter refraining from swinging at pitches in the hope of being walked (getting to first base on balls). It was first recorded in 1909 and was transferred to other activities by the 1930s.

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.

I had been driving west through downtown and stopped in Chinatown to wait out the morning congestion in a new café that used to be an old bistro.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2026

Roi Elba came to the shelter with his dog Gaia to wait out a missile salvo.

From Barron's • Feb. 28, 2026

They migrate thousands of kilometres to find stable sea ice during Antarctic summer to wait out what is called a "catastrophic moult" every year.

From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026

There are reasons to be concerned: No new retirees want to withdraw money from their accounts in a down market, and not everyone has additional funds to dip into while they wait out market turmoil.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 20, 2026

She wanted to ask him to come in and wait out the downpour, but at the same time she found herself actually a little scared of being alone inside with him.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

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.