drop·out
ˈdräp-ˌau̇t 
1
a
: one who drops out of school
b
: one who drops out of conventional society
c
: one who abandons an attempt, activity, or chosen path
a corporate dropout
2
: a momentary defect on a magnetic tape or disk caused by a temporary loss of signal
dropped out; dropping out; drops out
: to withdraw from participation or membership : quit
especially
: to withdraw from conventional society
Examples of dropout in a Sentence
Noun
The program is designed for dropouts who wish to get high school equivalency certificates.
Recent Examples on the Web
Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 15 Apr. 2024
Adapted from Sara Gruen’s 2006 best-seller, the story follows the young Jacob Jankowski (Grant Gustin), a vet school dropout who stumbles into a job with a down-and-out circus in the early 1930s.
—Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2024
Before the pandemic, in 2019, the dropout rate was 8.36%.
—Lily Altavena, Detroit Free Press, 29 Feb. 2024
The budding director was a film school dropout and had penned the screenplay while working at a New Jersey convenience store called the Quick Stop.
—Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Jan. 2024
Ken Fisher Fisher, a high school dropout turned college graduate, took $250 to start Fisher Investments.
—Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Apr. 2024
Officials and lawmakers say a compromise is under discussion in which a few thousand seminary dropouts would be required to serve, but not those still studying.
—Johnatan Reiss, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2024
Over time, both spacecraft have encountered unexpected issues and dropouts, including a seven-month period in 2020 when Voyager 2 couldn’t communicate with Earth.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 14 Mar. 2024
It was founded by college dropouts who were helping to invent Instagram virality in 2011 by sharing funny photos and captions—memes—on the nascent social app.
—Alexandra Sternlicht, Fortune, 23 Feb. 2024
Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 19 Apr. 2024
No one person or institution can fix issues of systemic poverty that drive people to drop out of college, Franczyk said.
—Journal Sentinel, 17 Apr. 2024
As the supply of oil gets reduced and as the fossil fuel gets harder to extract, smaller players drop out, unable to compete with the financial and technological resources of a Big Oil company.
—Rafael Nam, NPR, 16 Apr. 2024
Scottie Scheffler holds a one-shot lead, while Tiger Woods recorded his worst-ever score at The Masters to drop out of contention.
—Andrew Torgan, CNN, 14 Apr. 2024
DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race shortly after a distant second place finish to Trump in the Iowa Caucus and well before Florida’s March 19 primary that Trump won handily over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
—USA TODAY, 14 Apr. 2024
Venue managers say upheaval at the Republican National Committee, after Mr. Trump became the presumptive nominee and began installing an even more loyal team, has meant business partners have dropped out and been replaced by new faces.
—Jonathan Weisman, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2024
The comptroller’s economic report found that 100,000 Maryland women have dropped out of the workforce between 2019 and 2021, peaking among those ages 25 to 34 — a rate twice as high as the national average.
—Emily Guskin, Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2024
Bethesda Lutheran Communities in 2022 dropped out of the project.
—Tom Daykin, Journal Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2024
Noun
And there’s a dropout rate—PitchBook in February estimated that 37% of VCs who raised a first fund will not be able to raise a second.
—Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 15 Apr. 2024
Adapted from Sara Gruen’s 2006 best-seller, the story follows the young Jacob Jankowski (Grant Gustin), a vet school dropout who stumbles into a job with a down-and-out circus in the early 1930s.
—Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2024
Before the pandemic, in 2019, the dropout rate was 8.36%.
—Lily Altavena, Detroit Free Press, 29 Feb. 2024
The budding director was a film school dropout and had penned the screenplay while working at a New Jersey convenience store called the Quick Stop.
—Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Jan. 2024
Ken Fisher Fisher, a high school dropout turned college graduate, took $250 to start Fisher Investments.
—Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Apr. 2024
Officials and lawmakers say a compromise is under discussion in which a few thousand seminary dropouts would be required to serve, but not those still studying.
—Johnatan Reiss, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2024
Over time, both spacecraft have encountered unexpected issues and dropouts, including a seven-month period in 2020 when Voyager 2 couldn’t communicate with Earth.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 14 Mar. 2024
It was founded by college dropouts who were helping to invent Instagram virality in 2011 by sharing funny photos and captions—memes—on the nascent social app.
—Alexandra Sternlicht, Fortune, 23 Feb. 2024
Verb
Yet, after launching her campaign amid hundreds of supporters at a private club in Clarkston, before dozens of local Republican leaders, Mary Margaret Patterson, whose married name is Mary Warner, quietly dropped out of the race against the incumbent Democrat, Dave Coulter of Ferndale.
—Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 19 Apr. 2024
No one person or institution can fix issues of systemic poverty that drive people to drop out of college, Franczyk said.
—Journal Sentinel, 17 Apr. 2024
As the supply of oil gets reduced and as the fossil fuel gets harder to extract, smaller players drop out, unable to compete with the financial and technological resources of a Big Oil company.
—Rafael Nam, NPR, 16 Apr. 2024
Scottie Scheffler holds a one-shot lead, while Tiger Woods recorded his worst-ever score at The Masters to drop out of contention.
—Andrew Torgan, CNN, 14 Apr. 2024
DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race shortly after a distant second place finish to Trump in the Iowa Caucus and well before Florida’s March 19 primary that Trump won handily over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
—USA TODAY, 14 Apr. 2024
Venue managers say upheaval at the Republican National Committee, after Mr. Trump became the presumptive nominee and began installing an even more loyal team, has meant business partners have dropped out and been replaced by new faces.
—Jonathan Weisman, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2024
The comptroller’s economic report found that 100,000 Maryland women have dropped out of the workforce between 2019 and 2021, peaking among those ages 25 to 34 — a rate twice as high as the national average.
—Emily Guskin, Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2024
Bethesda Lutheran Communities in 2022 dropped out of the project.
—Tom Daykin, Journal Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dropout.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near dropout
Cite this Entry
“Dropout.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dropout. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dropout
1 of 2 noun
drop·out
ˈdräp-ˌau̇t
: a person who drops out especially from a school or a training program
drop out
2 of 2 verb
: to withdraw from taking part or membership : quit
dropped out of school
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