How to Use out-and-out in a Sentence

out-and-out

adjective
  • But out-and-out defamation would seem to be off the table.
    Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 26 June 2023
  • Greene wasn’t an out-and-out wildman firing missles all over the lot as a rookie.
    Chuck Murr, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2025
  • Moreover, the three-chair turn performed the number with dazzling control and an out-and-out joy that warmed even my cold, cold heart.
    Charlie Mason, TVLine, 14 Oct. 2024
  • Worse, others are out-and-out scammers, according to the agency.
    Irina Ivanova, CBS News, 3 Mar. 2023
  • In recent seasons, the Red Devils have struggled to sign an out-and-out winger for the right hand side that has lived up to expectations.
    Liam Canning, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
  • In short, the latest science suggests that chicken soup — though not an out-and-out cure for colds and flu — really helps with healing.
    Colby Teeman, Assistant Professor Of Dietetics and Nutrition, University Of Dayton, Fortune Well, 21 Oct. 2023
  • Michael has also written on Arne Slot succeeding at Liverpool in the absence of an out-and-out No 9.
    Phil Hay, The Athletic, 25 Feb. 2025
  • The team felt that copyrighting the book’s compilation would provide peace of mind against out-and-out reproduction of the work.
    Kate Knibbs, WIRED, 17 Apr. 2024
  • Hard to find, elite out-and-out strikers are expensive commodities.
    Henry Flynn, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025
  • And others said that happiness was a matter of out-and-out struggle, which would last eternally. . .
    Benjamin Kunkel, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
  • The overall vibe is Scandinavian chic, if not out-and-out luxury.
    Helen Iatrou, Travel + Leisure, 29 Dec. 2024
  • Four of those series involve rich white women and some kind of death shrouded in suspicion, if not an out-and-out murder mystery.
    Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 13 Sep. 2024
  • As far as Simone was concerned, that was way better than an out-and-out apology for Jules letting her friend take the fall for the mistake that landed a patient on the floor last week.
    Charlie Mason, TVLine, 13 Mar. 2025
  • And for audiences of any age, there is something about out-and-out, unapologetic silliness that forms a rebuke to the ordinary.
    Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 29 Dec. 2023
  • With Hollywood still one of the top donors to the Democrats, those conversations alternate from cautious optimism to dismay to out-and-out anger.
    Dominic Patten, Deadline, 1 Nov. 2024
  • According to teens who have been rescued from one of these camps, children are being subjected to out-and-out brainwashing.
    Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 17 Feb. 2024
  • Avoid arguments, spats, disagreements, squabbles, and out-and-out fights as much as possible.
    Eli Amdur, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
  • When playing with only two out-and-out forwards, Bellingham will have more freedom in attack and can increase his attacking stats.
    Guillermo Rai, The Athletic, 25 Nov. 2024
  • But with just one out-and-out winger now available (Stephy Mavididi), a tactical switch might help their cause, even with the existing personnel.
    Rob Tanner, The Athletic, 4 Feb. 2025
  • But with just one out-and-out winger now available (Stephy Mavididi), a tactical switch might help their cause, even with the existing personnel.
    Rob Tanner, The Athletic, 4 Feb. 2025
  • This decision is a baffling swerve for a celebrity biopic, one that will probably keep it from becoming an out-and-out sensation.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
  • Unlike some companies, however, platform sharing at VW-Audi doesn't mean out-and-out cloning.
    Tony Swan, Car and Driver, 3 June 2023
  • Presumably, Conrad was talking not to out-and-out bigots but to well-meaning liberal folks who would never dream of taking an identity that wasn’t theirs.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2024
  • Untold Murders never out-and-out blames football for the murders committed by Hernandez, Brutcher, and Ryng, but the implications are hard to miss.
    Chris Vognar, Rolling Stone, 8 Jan. 2025
  • The same could be said of Barcelona’s Dani Olmo, who operates best when ghosting into space behind the opposition midfield and releasing runners ahead of him rather than an out-and-out forward who can play on the last line.
    Mark Carey, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
  • Director Elizabeth Banks, working from an all-over-the-place script by Jimmy Warden, can’t decide if the film is a dark comedy, a gross-out comedy, a crime drama or an out-and-out horror film.
    Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 23 Feb. 2023
  • Conservatives need to reject an approach that meets informal chilling of speech with out-and-out government censorship.
    Suzanne Nossel, CNN, 23 Feb. 2023
  • Biden administration officials have stressed that despite current tension, China is a competitor rather than an out-and-out enemy.
    Christian Datoc, Washington Examiner, 13 Nov. 2023
  • Even if military support for Ukraine increases dramatically, the prospect of an out-and-out Ukrainian victory, one that results in the reestablishment of Ukraine’s pre-war borders with Russia, seems highly unlikely.
    Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Even if military support for Ukraine increases dramatically, the prospect of an out-and-out Ukrainian victory, one that results in the reestablishment of Ukraine’s pre-war borders with Russia, seems highly unlikely.
    Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 6 Mar. 2025

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

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