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• way out
  way out

  noun

  the means by which a predicament, dilemma, etc., may be solved.
• way-out
  way-out

  adjective

  advanced in style or technique.

way out

¹ American  

noun

1. the means by which a predicament, dilemma, etc., may be solved.

2. Chiefly British. an exit or exit door, as in a theater.

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way-out ² American  

[wey-out] / ˈweɪˈaʊt /

adjective

Informal.

1. advanced in style or technique.

   way-out jazz.

2. exotic or esoteric in character.

   way-out theories on nutrition.

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way-out British  

adjective

1. extremely unconventional or experimental; avant-garde

2. excellent or amazing

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Etymology

Origin of way-out

1950–55; adj. use of way out far off; see way ², out

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

way out way-out

The rest of us need to find a cogent and workable way out of this self-made mess..

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026

He was in trouble in his first season and he found a way out of it to finish in a lofty position.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

We were searching for a way out, and we were searching for something to do, and John was very, very brilliant and was very much a contrarian, and he didn’t think like other people.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

One of them signed a form regarding net unrealized appreciation on their way out the door.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

“Good to see you, hon,” Forest says to me on his way out.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

But in the 1950s, Detroit was still about blue-skying massive, gas-swigging machines and way-out concept cars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026

While intelligent machines may beat humans in many domains, as they already have in game play, the possibility of AI systems developing self-awareness and free will is still the stuff of way-out science fiction.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2021

This frolic on the wilder shores of mathematics, by astronomer David Darling and maths prodigy Agnijo Banerjee, aims to bolt the way-out to the day-to-day.

From Nature ● Jan. 15, 2018

On Wednesday France invited Hariri and his family to Paris, providing what French diplomats have described as a way-out for him to leave Saudi Arabia without any side losing face.

From Reuters ● Nov. 16, 2017

He comes to me with some way-out tale about how come and why.

From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison