to block out
38
4.0
- phrasal verb
- /blɑk aʊt/
:
bloquear
- Somebody from the office heard that I was having some trouble sleeping, and they gave me these glasses that block out blue light.
You'd think that it would block it out, no?
- You'd think that it would block it out, no?
- Because they have to block out all the distractions.
- But you seem to get on OK just to do your thing and kind of block out the past.
- Because see, when you get really bad emotions, you tend to block them out.
- For situations it's just heavier and it muffles or it blocks out the sound a lot easier than this one right here.
- And now our brains are so powerful at being able to, or our mind is so powerful that being able to block out that really intimate trauma.
- I tell you, I thought about five years ago during the we had fires, horrible fires here and it blocked out the sun for a week.
- It's to block out the fear of this is dangerous.
- So they're just, that's why they're just harder to block out.
- Yes, it was hypersensitive and he would try to block it out with stuff.
- I think two partners you have here today, I'm just blocking them out.
Examples
-
She did everything she could to block it out.
-
I use noise-cancelling headphones to block out distractions when I study.
-
You got to be willing to block it all out and keep your eyes on the prize.
-
But you seem to get on OK just to do your thing and kind of block out the past.
-
I block them out with music.
-
Just about blocked that memory out of my mind.
-
I must have blocked it out.
-
Next, what steps can I take to bring my focus to the one thing I'm working on while blocking out all else?
-
After a while, you'll learn to completely block out the pain.
-
As long as the music doesn't stop, I can block out the yelling.
Fiction book (1997)
Synonyms
∞
3.0
To stop movement, access, or progress
176
4.8
To stop public protest by force or by people in power
172
1.3
To stop people or things from entering a place
119
5.1
To block a path or view
99
3.8
To stop something from entering, being included, or being thought about
37
3.5
To make a sound so loud that you cannot hear another sound
19
4.4
To stop listening or paying attention to what is happening
8
5.4
Hide something so you cannot see it or remember it
1
9.3
To block something from view by passing in front of it
To make a place or screen completely dark so no light shows
Make the view hard to see because of fog or smoke
Antonyms
How Suppressed
88
5.8
38
4.0
9
4.3
20
3.8
∞
1.0
243
2.9
Surface Forms
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 is used for the mind too: imagine closing a door on a memory or covering a part of a photo so you do not see it, you block it out. So it means 'to stop something from being noticed or to try to forget it'.