Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

bow out

verb

Definition of bow out

  1. intransitive verb

  2. :  retire, withdraw; also :  lose bowed out in the first round of the tournament

From the M-W Editors

alt-5978cb55e8ba5
The Grammatical History of 'Awaken'/'Awoken'/'Awakened'
video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066
alt-5978a79b75e17
Trending: 'Transgender' Americans Face New Restrictions
emoji-the-quiz
The Emoji Quiz

Examples of bow out in a Sentence

  1. quite embarrassingly, the top-seeded player bowed out in the first round of competition

First Known Use of bow out

1942

bow out Synonyms

Synonyms
lose, fall
Antonyms
conquer, prevail, triumph, win
Related Words
falter; tank, throw; forfeit; bomb, collapse, crack (up), fail, flop, flunk, fold, founder, miss, strike out, wash out
Near Antonyms
flourish, prosper, succeed, thrive

Learn More about bow out

  1. See words that rhyme with bow out Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for bow out

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up bow out? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

fester

play

to become worse as time passes

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. transgender Trump reverses military policy allowing transgender people to serve

  2. beleaguer 'Being subjected to constant or repeated trouble or harassment'

  3. scaramouch A new White House communications director

  4. non sequitur “It does not follow”

  5. admiral's mast A massive search ends with an 'admiral's mast'.

SEE ALL

BROWSE DICTIONARY

bow out

Test Your Vocabulary

The Emoji Quiz

  • emoji-the-quiz
  • What phase of the moon is this: 🌖 ?
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
SCRABBLE® Sprint

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

alt-5978cb55e8ba5
The Grammatical History of 'Awaken'/'Awoken'/'Awakened'

Or you can just go back to bed.

alt-59775cb5d7779
Words We're Watching: 'Aquafaba'

Don't dump out the bean water just yet...

image1358596246
Words About Word Play

Don't just eat your words—play with them!

alt-596f95fe451e7
'Drought' & 'Drouth' Take Us Back In Time

A variant spelling with a long history

Ask the Editors

video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066

Or, Why Pig Meat is Called 'Pork' and Cow Meat is Called 'Beef'

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?

Don't get us started on 'bimonthly'

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

emoji-the-quiz
The Emoji Quiz

Think you’re an emoji 👓 expert? Let’s see 🤔

Take the quiz
image941935269
A Game of Thrones Word Quiz

In the Game of Thrones quiz, you learn some new vocabulary. (It’s quite safe, really. You will not die.)

Take the quiz
Spell It
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Take the quiz
SCRABBLE® Sprint
SCRABBLE® Sprint

SCRABBLE® fans, sharpen your skills!

Play the game
Examples: bow out in a Sentence