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🧑‍🦲 To drop off 💔 To stop being friendly 🔗 To follow logically 🪖 To leave formation
to fall out

to fall out

53 3.5
To come out and drop from where it grew or was held
  • phrasal verb
  • /fɔl aʊt/
translation icon : caerse
  • Your hair falls out or something like that.
  • hair falls out

She says my phone fell out of my pants.

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Examples

  • After months of treatment, he noticed that his hair started to fall out in clumps.

  • If my tooth falls out, it's OK Bronwyn, I'm not scared.

  • And it made all your hair fall out?

    Dad (2019)

  • Come on, before the rest of his hair falls out.

    Pearl Harbor (2001)

  • Hair gets Gray, gets white, falls out, you lose it, right?

  • You know it's like teeth, when one falls out, another moves in.

    Lost at Christmas (2020)

  • Her short hair was thinner and had fallen out in places.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Then the root had finally rotted, and the tooth fell out of her mouth.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • As she got older, she experienced a lot of changes, including her hair beginning to fall out.

  • When the child lost his first tooth, he was excited to see it fall out and put it under his pillow.

Synonyms

to fall off
vsto fall out
117 2.3

Separate from something by breaking or dropping

describes loss of hair, teeth, or similar body parts
to come out
vsto fall out
38 2.0

To become loose and fall out, for example hair or teeth

focuses on parts falling away rather than emerging outward
to abscise
vsto fall out
  • Specialized
9.9

To fall off a plant naturally, like leaves or fruit

applies to body parts such as hair or teeth rather than plants

Antonyms

to attach
459 2.5

To join or fasten one thing to another so they stay together

How Secure

to hold fast
11 5.5
to stick
∞ 3.5
to loosen
88 1.0
to fall out
53 3.5

Surface Forms

fall out infinitive
falling out present participle
falls out third person singular
fell out past
fallen out past participle

Morphology

fall + out

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 drop from where it grew or was fixed' and comes from the simple picture of something loose, like hair or a tooth, that falls out of its place. So it means 'to become detached and drop'.