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Glite Dictionary
🙈 To ignore 🚫 To stop entry 📝 To outline
to block out

to block out

6 3.8
To plan something roughly without details
  • phrasal verb
  • /blɑk aʊt/
translation icon : esbozar
  • For this visit, he had blocked out most of the afternoon.
  • block out time
  • block out 10 minutes
  • block out an hour

So I try to, on a yearly basis as one of my top priorities, block out these weeks of time in nature.

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Examples

  • Tomorrow I am blocking out my calendar and I'm going to do the entire exercise from start to finish.

    Blog text (32)

  • Let's block out some time next week to discuss our project ideas.

  • So I have increasingly tried to block out time.

  • So I was just trying to, you know, really block out the calendar so that I always had people have people over.

  • How about we block out a few evenings? You can take me through the details.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • So I try to, on a yearly basis as one of my top priorities, block out these weeks of time in nature.

    Andrew Huberman

  • Put it in your calendar, block out a set amount of time to deal with your issue or execute your task.

    Blog text (21)

  • Block out 20-40 minutes each day for a break from work.

    Blog text (13)

  • If you're going to sit down and write the ebook, you are going to block out time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1 PM to 3 PM until the book is done.

    Blog text (30)

  • That's why it's so important—like you advocate—to be incredibly intentional about blocking out time to honestly focus on the most important tasks.

    Blog text (32)

Synonyms

to sketch
vsto block out
27 3.6

To give a short rough description of the main points

serves as a plan rather than being only a description
to sketch out
vsto block out
9 3.5

Draw or write a short plan showing the main ideas

focuses on planning rather than giving a brief summary
to rough in
vsto block out
1 6.6

Make a simple first version to show the main plan

focuses on outlining and planning rather than producing an unfinished draft
to chalk out
vsto block out
6.1

To make a simple plan or outline for something

is about general planning without specific details

Antonyms

to detail
105 3.1

To describe something by giving many small facts

to refine
93 4.0

Make something better by making a few small changes

How Detailed

to detail
105 3.1
draft
  • Specialized
245 3.7
to sketch
45 3.0
outline
59 2.7
to block out
6 3.8

Surface Forms

block out infinitive
blocked out past
blocked out past participle
blocking out present participle
blocks out third person singular

Morphology

block + out

The meaning is directly compositional: 'block' in the sense of obstruct or stop combined with the directional/particle 'out' yields 'prevent from entering or being noticed' (e.g., light or noise). This verb+particle pattern is a common, predictable English construction and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Block out The verb block out comes from painters who first lay down big areas of color to show the main shapes; they block the picture out before adding small details. So it means 'to plan or sketch something in a rough way'.