spell out

verb

spelled out; spelling out; spells out

transitive verb

1

: to make plain

spelled out the orders in detail

2

: to write or print in letters and in full

numbers are to be spelled out

Synonyms of spell out

• explain
• illustrate
• clarify
• demonstrate

Examples of spell out in a Sentence

the dating applicant spelled out exactly what she wanted in a man

Recent Examples on the Web

Anthropic is careful to explicitly spell out most of these caveats. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 29 July 2026

Oman's plan is administrative language for a change that missiles alone never spelled out. — Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026

Both lawsuits argue that the government didn’t adequately establish its case against each specific economy or spell out how the tariffs will eliminate the specified practice they are being levied to address, as required by Section 301. — Mae Anderson, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2026

After a court filing spelling out the agreement came during the last hour of trading on Wall Street, shares in Paramount added to what was already a lackluster day. — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 24 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for spell out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout

Kids Definition

spell out

verb

1

: to make very plain

our duties were spelled out

2

: to write or print in letters and in full