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to drop out

to drop out

8 4.4
To leave normal society and live a much simpler life
  • phrasal verb
  • /drɑp aʊt/
translation icon : apartarse de la sociedad
  • Feeling disconnected from mainstream values, he chose to drop out and pursue a simpler lifestyle.
  • dropped out of society

Let your the the man that has dropped out of your children's life.

Examples

  • Well, I just dropped out of society.

  • Maybe I should drop out too.

  • By the way, it's time for you to drop out of all this.

  • My wife and I have dropped out of society.

  • If you were just to drop out of society, if you were just to leave everything behind, where would you go?

  • And I'd like to hear what made you suddenly decide to drop out of life.

  • That's what happens when you drop out of the world.

  • Eventually, they become convinced that the sane alternative for them is to drop out.

    Academic text (1991)
  • When Vikki was nineteen, much to the chagrin of her parents, she dropped out of college and moved to California.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • After years of feeling disillusioned, she decided to drop out of society and live in the countryside.

Synonyms

to leave
vsto drop out
1.0

To go away from a place, person, or group

is a deliberate rejection of mainstream life rooted in disillusion with its values
to withdraw
vsto drop out
466 2.8

To stop taking part in a place or activity

is done as a personal rejection of conventional social values because of disillusion
to opt out
vsto drop out
50 3.5

To choose not to take part in something

is a wider rejection of conventional life motivated by loss of faith in its values
to break away
vsto drop out
30 4.1

To leave an organization and form a separate group

is usually an individual withdrawal from conventional society due to disillusion, not group forming
to disassociate
vsto drop out
16 7.0

To end a connection with a person, group, or idea

is a broader lifestyle retreat motivated by disillusion rather than a formal split
to dissociate
vsto drop out
3 6.7

To stop being involved with a person, group, or idea

is a withdrawal driven specifically by disillusion with mainstream social values

Antonyms

866 2.5

To join in an activity with other people

75 4.1

To become part of a larger group and take part in its life

How Withdrawn

to drop out
8 4.4
to seclude
2 6.7
distancing
1 4.8
to take part
169 1.4

Surface Forms

drop out infinitive
dropped out past participle
dropping out present participle
drops out third person singular

Morphology

drop + out

The ML sense is a domain-specific application of the basic phrasal-verb sense 'drop out' = 'remove or exclude'. A learner who knows 'drop' (to remove/stop including) and 'out' (excluded) can compositionally infer that certain units are being excluded/deactivated, so the meaning is transparently derived from the constituents.

Etymology

Drop out became popular in the 1960s as a way to show people stepping away from normal life, like choosing to drop out of the crowd and live differently, so it means 'to withdraw from society' or stop taking part in usual life.