rout

1 of 5

noun (1)

ˈrau̇t 

1

: a state of wild confusion or disorderly retreat

2

a

: a disastrous defeat : debacle

b

: a precipitate flight

rout

2 of 5

verb (1)

ˈrau̇t 

routed; routing; routs

transitive verb

1

a

: to defeat decisively or disastrously

the discomfiture of seeing their party routed at the polls

—A. N. Holcombe

b

: to put to precipitate flight

c

: to disorganize completely : demoralize

2

: to drive out : dispel

rout

3 of 5

noun (2)

ˈrau̇t 

1

: a crowd of people

specifically : rabble sense 1c

2

a

: disturbance

b

archaic : fuss

3

: a fashionable gathering

rout

4 of 5

verb (2)

ˈrau̇t 

routed; routing; routs

intransitive verb

1

: to poke around with the snout : root

pigs routing in the earth

2

: to search haphazardly

transitive verb

1

: to come up with : uncover

scouts … routing out new talent

—Carrie Donovan

2

a

: to force out as if by digging

—usually used with out

b

: to cause to emerge especially from bed

3

a

: to gouge out or make a furrow in (something, such as wood or metal)

b

archaic : to dig up with the snout

rout

5 of 5

verb (3)

ˈrōt 

ˈrüt

routed; routing; routs

intransitive verb

dialectal, chiefly British

: to low loudly : bellow

—used of cattle

Synonyms

Noun (2)

• beating
• defeat
• drubbing
• licking
• loss
• lump
• overthrow
• plastering
• shellacking
• trimming
• trouncing
• whipping

Verb (2)

• army
• bike [chiefly Scottish]
• cram
• crowd
• crush
• drove
• flock
• herd
• horde
• host
• legion
• mass
• mob
• multitude
• press
• scrum
• swarm
• throng

Verb (3)

• annihilate
• blow away
• bomb
• bury
• clobber
• cream
• drub
• dust
• flatten
• paste
• shellac
• skin
• skunk
• smoke [slang]
• smother
• snow under
• thrash
• trim
• tromp
• trounce
• wallop
• wax [slang]
• whip
• whomp
• whop
• whap
• whup

Examples of rout in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

In one incredible act of bravery, Carpenter, who had flown over an occupied village, landed near some U.S. troops just outside town and asked why the troops were not moving to rout the few Germans holding it. —Alan Miller, USA TODAY, 23 Jan. 2024

After losing its first game of the season Tuesday, Westlake’s baseball team responded Thursday by collecting 17 hits and relying on the pitching of Dylan Volantis to rout Calabasas 14-0 in a Marmonte League road victory. —Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2024

Vonn took the super-combined and downhill titles the previous two days. 2014 — The Clippers rout the Lakers 142-94. —Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2024

Cam Thomas scores 33 points, Nets dominate 2nd half to rout Lakers 130-112 Forecasters say to expect off and on rain through the weekend Burglary suspect allegedly posing as alarm company employee arrested Aliza Chasan Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. —Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 22 Jan. 2024

English Premier League teams are progressing at such a rate that even a club like Newcastle, that had not played against Europe’s elite for around two decades, was able to rout France’s best side. —Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023

This week, the landlocked country of three million people signed a deal to purchase from France modern air defenses, moving to fill a key capability gap that allowed Azerbaijan to rout Armenian forces in 2020. —Yaroslav Trofimov, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2023

Hector routs the besiegers and sets fire to their ships. —Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023

The Atlanta Dream lost 17 in a row in their inaugural season of 2008. 2016 — Kevin Durant scores 30 points and helps the Americans rout Serbia 96-66 for their third straight gold medal. —Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2023

Noun

Ashlyn Roeder, Menlo-Atherton softball: Roeder, a senior, was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored in a rout against El Camino. —Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2024

Argentine star Lionel Messi and team co-owner David Beckham watched from field level suites Saturday night as a makeshift Inter Miami lineup played against New York City FC with passion and purpose that were missing the previous weekend in a rout by New York’s other team, the Red Bulls. —Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 31 Mar. 2024

Carolina routs Wagner in a 90-62 thumping here in Charlotte. —Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 22 Mar. 2024

The Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first pro baseball team, is organized by George Ellard and Harry Wright. 1958 — Cincinnati’s Oscar Robertson scores a NCAA Midwest region-record 56 points in a 97-62 rout of Arkansas. 1962 — Wilt Chamberlain is 1st to score 4,000 points in an NBA season. —Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2024

But on Wednesday night, Clark scored 33 points in Iowa’s 108-60 rout of Minnesota as part of a triple-double to move past Lynette Woodard for the most points in major women’s college basketball — which Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said was more significant. —Adam Zagoria, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024

As entertaining to Dodgers fans as the rout over the division rival Padres, others over at Glendale enjoyed watching batting practice. —Chuck Murr, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024

Sam Steel scored 35 seconds after the puck dropped, and the Dallas Stars scored four goals in the first 16 minutes on the way to a 9-2 rout of the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night. —Teresa M. Walker, USA TODAY, 16 Feb. 2024

The announcers just noted this is the first scoreless first quarter of a Super Bowl since the Patriots and the Rams in February 2019. 11d ago / 4:11 PM PST Brian Hamilton, NBC Sports NBC Sports’ fantasy and betting analyst, Lawrence Jackson, earlier today predicted the Chiefs would win in a rout. —Jason Abbruzzese, NBC News, 12 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

borrowed from Middle French route "defeat, disorderly retreat," noun derivative from feminine of rout, alternate past participle of rompre "to defeat, put to flight," literally, "to break, smash," going back to Old French, going back to Latin rumpere — more at route entry 1

Verb (1)

derivative of rout entry 1

Noun (2)

Middle English route "group, band of soldiers, crowd," borrowed from Anglo-French route, rute "band, herd, armed force," going back to Vulgar Latin *rupta "detachment," literally, "something broken off," going back to Latin, feminine of ruptus, past participle of rumpere "to break" — more at route entry 1

Verb (2)

presumed to be variant of wroot, root entry 3 (though alteration of vowel is unexplained)

Verb (3)

Middle English (northern) & early Scots rowten, rowte, borrowed from Old Norse rauta "to roar," going back to Germanic *rautōjan-, probably derivative of a noun *raut- "bellowing, roaring," from an ablaut derivative of *reutan- (whence Old English rēotan "to weep, wail," Old High German riozan "to weep, mourn," Old Swedish riuta "to roar"), going back to Indo-European *Hreu̯d- "produce a loud sound, weep," whence, with varying ablaut grades, Latin rudere, rūdere "to make a loud noise, bellow, bray," Lithuanian raudóti "to sob, weep," Old Church Slavic rydati, Sanskrit rodiṣi "(you) weep"

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1595, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Verb (1)

circa 1600, in the meaning defined at sense 1c

Noun (2)

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (2)

circa 1564, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Verb (3)

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing rout

• put to rout
• the rout was on

Kids Definition

rout

1 of 3 verb

ˈrau̇t 

1

: to poke around with the snout : root entry 3

2

: to dig or cut a groove in (as wood or metal)

3

a

: to drive by force

routed out of their homes

b

: to cause to come out especially from bed

rout

2 of 3 noun

1

: a state of wild confusion and disorderly retreat

2

: a disastrous defeat

rout

3 of 3 verb

routed; routing

1

: to put to flight

2

: to defeat completely