rout

1 of 5

noun (1)

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)

routed; routing; routs

transitive verb

1
a
: to defeat decisively or disastrously
the discomfiture of seeing their party routed at the pollsA. N. Holcombe
b
: to put to precipitate flight
c
: to disorganize completely : demoralize
2
: to drive out : dispel

rout

3 of 5

noun (2)

1
: a crowd of people
specifically : rabble sense 1c
2
b
archaic : fuss
3
: a fashionable gathering

rout

4 of 5

verb (2)

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 talentCarrie 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 How to pronounce rout (audio)
ˈrüt
routed; routing; routs

intransitive verb

dialectal, chiefly British
: to low loudly : bellow
used of cattle

Examples of rout in a Sentence

Noun (2) the championship game was a humiliating rout for the team that had been favored to win in the mad rout from the school shooter, it was every person for himself Verb (2) a great rout of rubberneckers had gathered around the scene of the accident at first the protests were dismissed as nothing more than the idle doings of the restless rout Verb (3) as expected, the professional team had no trouble routing the amateurs the nation's ground and air forces quickly routed the would-be invaders
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Jordi Alba and Tadeo Allende bagged braces in the rout, which was punctuated with a postgame commemoration of Busquets for his decision to retire at season’s end. Franco Panizo, Miami Herald, 5 Oct. 2025 The Dragons avenged that defeat in a 56-7 regional final rout of Byron Nelson that same year. Mike Waters, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 Oct. 2025
Verb
That largely reflects the sentiments of most — though not all — of a dozen people who came to the football stadium to see the Tigers rout the Yankton Bucks. David Folkenflik, NPR, 3 Oct. 2025 Israeli military officials have estimated that there are 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters remaining in the city and its surrounding area, and that the operation to rout them out could take months. Matt Bradley, NBC news, 19 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for rout

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of rout was in the 13th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rout.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rout. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

rout

1 of 3 verb
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

More from Merriam-Webster on rout

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