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

Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
From early morning, warplanes pounded the international airport in an effort to rout R.S.F. fighters dug in there. Cora Engelbrecht, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2023 Continue reading here Dodgers rout the Rockies, 14-3 Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and J.D. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2023 Zion Williamson had 21 points and 12 rebounds in his return, and the visiting New Orleans Pelicans pulled away in the second half to rout the Los Angeles Clippers 112-91 on Sunday. San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Oct. 2022 Our communities should form alliances to help law enforcement officials to rout out the drug dealers, gangs, and other criminals who prey on our children and communities. Baltimore Sun, 18 May 2022 In a pre-recorded national address on Thursday (Jan. 6), Duterte told neighborhood officials to rout out and, if necessary, restrain or arrest unvaccinated people caught outside their homes. Aurora Almendral, Quartz, 7 Jan. 2022 San Diego scored in five of its last six innings and got home runs from Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth and Luis Campusano to rout Milwaukee after falling behind, 5-0. Journal Sentinel, 18 Mar. 2023 The success of Ukraine’s September offensive strongly suggests that a Ukrainian Army properly outfitted with modern NATO equipment would completely rout the Russian Army. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 26 Sep. 2022 Again My Life, interrupts gang fights where he’s outnumbered and works to rout corruption among the very powerful. Joan MacDonald, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2022
Noun
Parker put the finishing touches on the rout midway through the final quarter and capped the scoring with a 41-yard touchdown run from Sparks. Evan Dudley, al, 15 Sep. 2023 Elfs up Joe Burrow in 24-3 rout of Bengals in the season opener Browns fans, this opening victory over Cincinnati is for you! Tim Bielik, cleveland, 11 Sep. 2023 The Cowboys defensive tackle and former David Douglas High School star came up big, posting two of the Cowboys’ seven sacks during their 40-0 rout of the Giants Sunday night. oregonlive, 11 Sep. 2023 The lone blemish was Tennessee's 49-13 rout of Virginia in Week 1. Losers Texas A&M A&M went from up 17-7 two minutes into the second quarter to down 31-20 with five minutes left in the third and then saw things get out of hand in the fourth quarter against Miami. Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2023 Their rout of Charleston Southern on Saturday wasn’t enough to keep them ranked. Ralph D. Russo, Chicago Tribune, 10 Sep. 2023 Punahou was 9-2 last season, is 3-0 this season, outscoring those opponents 117-28, including a 51-7 rout of Long Beach Millikan. John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Aug. 2023 At its peak, the company was valued at $45.6 billion in 2021, but economic volatility and a tech rout plundered its valuation by 85% just a year later. Byprarthana Prakash, Fortune, 31 Aug. 2023 And this battle ended in another humiliating defeat for Russia, which rewarded Ukraine's steady and surgical destruction of its supply and reinforcement lines by withdrawing across the Dnipro River rather than face another costly rout like Kharkiv. Peter Weber, The Week, 30 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rout.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Dictionary Entries Near rout

Cite this Entry

“Rout.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rout. Accessed 2 Oct. 2023.

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

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