bow out

verb

bowed out; bowing out; bows out

intransitive verb

: retire, withdraw

also : lose

bowed out in the first round of the tournament

Synonyms of bow out

• lose
• fall

Examples of bow out in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

The other openers had the most to lose here by bowing out of a huge tour. — Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026

The idea that Newsom would bow out to make room for Harris appears to catch Tapper by surprise. — Andrew Graham, Sacbee.com, 14 Sep. 2026

There is no offseason from a city’s and a fanbase’s obsession, but last season has long been over, a fact that coach Ben Johnson has belabored since his team bowed out of the playoffs on an overtime field goal last January. — Jon Greenberg, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026

After bowing out of competition in Venice, the film will probably find a place to be on streaming. — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bow out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout