max out

verb

|Updated on: 16 Jun 2018

Definition of max out

intransitive verb

: to reach an upper limit or a peak

the car maxed out at 85 mph

transitive verb

: to push to a limit or an extreme; also : to use up all available credit on

maxed out the credit cards

Recent Examples of max out from the Web

Of 1,017 airports across the region, Hong Kong faces the most severe constraints, and within the next two years, Beijing, Manila and Singapore will also max out, the study predicts.

— angus whitley, Bloomberg.com, "Airlines Have Bigger Nightmare Than Fuel—a Runway Shortage," 5 June 2018
Thompson is reportedly known for mastering the way to max out overtime pay.

— lukas mikelionis, Fox News, "Firefighter has become master of maxing out overtime pay," 25 May 2018
Stephens' only engagement has been maxing out to a few congressional campaigns in Arkansas, his home state.

— rebecca berg, CNN, "Top GOP donors close wallets over tax law," 14 May 2018
Life on the dole in Florida isn’t easy street: Barkley’s benefits come to $270 a week and max out at three months.

— simon montlake, The Christian Science Monitor, "In good times, safety net for the jobless frays," 27 Mar. 2018
The federal Pell grant for low-income students maxes out at about $5,900 a year, which is usually more than enough to cover community-college tuition but too little to live on.

— marcella bombardieri, The Atlantic, "One College's Struggle to Get Poor Students Through School," 30 May 2018
With Teddy pinned and screaming, the lab tech maxes out his bulk apperception, aggression, and cruelty, among other bellicose traits, while erasing his likable attributes, such as empathy and imagination.

— sandra upson, WIRED, "Westworld Recap, Season 2 Episode 5: More Dead Than Alive," 21 May 2018
Perhaps Smith's seven appearances in Volusia County jail and year and four and a half months in prison had maxed out his endurance for the incarceration experience.

— david j. neal, miamiherald, "He tried to run after crashing into a barber shop, cops say. His pants didn't cooperate. | Miami Herald," 17 May 2018
The third thing was how ridiculously tiny the cooking basket is; at nine inches by nine inches by two and three-quarter inches high, two large potatoes effectively maxed out its capacity.

— joe ray, WIRED, "Are Air Fryers Worth It?," 10 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'max out.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.