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Glite Dictionary
🚪 To leave 🗝️ To remove 📰 To become known 🗣️ To say with effort 🙈 To avoid blame
to get out

to get out

408 3.5
Become known to many people, even when it was secret
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡɛt aʊt/
: salir a la luz
  • If this gets out I lose my job and home.
  • get the word out
  • get the message out
  • get the information out

How on earth could they get their message out to the electorate?

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Examples

  • They're trying to keep a horrible truth from getting out.

    Werewolf Cabal (2022)

  • Once the footage got out, it sparked a nationwide campaign.

    Shelby Oaks (2025)

  • Women in Canada argued that the media was crucial in getting their message out to the public.

    Academic text (2011)

  • If news like this got out, there'd be an overnight breakdown of basic social services worldwide.

    Armageddon (1998)

  • When the truth finally got out, many people were shocked by the revelation.

  • The confidential report got out on social media, causing a public outcry.

  • If this secret gets out, it could jeopardize the entire project.

Synonyms

to break
vsto get out
  • Literature
709 3.6

To make news known quickly

describes becoming known rather than someone actively causing it
to come out
vsto get out
645 2.9

To become known to people after being hidden

is the same meaning but especially for secret information becoming known
to get around
vsto get out
37 2.8

Information becomes known to many people

focuses on public discovery rather than the process of spreading news
to leak out
vsto get out
30 3.7

People find out secret information without permission

can describe both accidental and intentional becoming known
to come to daylight
vsto get out
5.1

To become known after being hidden

is the same idea but more figurative and less common in speech

Antonyms

to keep a secret
206 2.6

To not tell anyone private information

to suppress
151 4.8

To stop public protest by force or by people in power

How Public

to spread
716 1.6
to get out
408 3.5
to come out
772 3.0
to leak
293 4.1

Surface Forms

get out infinitive
getting out present participle
gets out third person singular
got out past
got out past participle

Morphology

get + out

The sense 'to become known' is directly derivable from combining 'get' (to come to a state/arrive) with 'out' (into the open/public). This particle-verb composition (information getting 'out' into the public) is a transparent, cross-linguistically common metaphor, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely infer the meaning.

Etymology

Get out, literally get and out, is often pictured as a secret or news escaping a closed place, like smoke slipping through a crack and spreading. That's why it means 'to become known by the public'.