to fall out
15
3.6
- phrasal verb
- /fɔl aʊt/
:
pelearse con
- They used to be close, but they fell out after their argument about politics.
- two people fell out
- men fell out
So she's had two and she fell out with the first couple.
- So she's had two and she fell out with the first couple.
- I, I basically fell out with my, my best mates.
- And I've got I fall out with a lot of clients as well.
- I don't know how true this is but this is what I was told about how him and Suge fell out and I'm going to tell you why.
- I never like to look for excuses, you know, so the manager was never really one that I was going to fall out with or, you know, have an argument with.
- But that time in Swellside, when he'd had enough, I was doing my own thing then, and he fell out with the two biggest brothers on the wing.
- And then after the war finished, one of my uncle's Uncle Ernie came back to live on the farm, but he fell out with my auntie, Auntie Nora.
- I mean, the good news is, oh gosh, I guess the good news is if they fall out, they're both.
Examples
-
And slowly, though they certainly didn't mean to, they all fell out of love with him.
Fiction book (1994) -
The two fell out after developing a close friendship during the late 1920s.
Academic text (2000) -
- You and I are gonna fall out.
-
This is exactly the kind of situation where people fall out and we need to be...
-
I mean, if they pair off they fall out and you never see them again.
-
I, I basically fell out with my, my best mates.
-
Besides, he told me he-- he just fell out of love with Linda.
-
Now, I really don't want us to fall out about this.
-
But you fall out with people, don't you?
-
We fell out and we don't speak in public.
Synonyms
2
2.8
Argue with someone and feel angry or upset afterward
Antonyms
How Distant
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal meanings of 'fall' (to move downward or happen) and 'out' (away/outside) give a clue of movement away from a group, so a learner could infer a general sense of leaving. However, the specific military usage 'leave formation/on order' is a specialized, conventionalized command and phrasal verbs with 'out' are variable in meaning, so the exact sense is not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Fall out can mean 'to stop being friendly' and may come from the image of two people who were close suddenly fall away from each other and step out of the same circle. That's why the phrase means 'to stop being friends'.