on the outs
8
8.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
en desacuerdo
- After their disagreement, Ian felt like he was on the outs with the team.
- guy on the outs
- on the outs with my tribe
And then she's kind of on the outs with the the witches.
- And then she's kind of on the outs with the the witches.
- Girls are girls are much more interested in talking about relationships, who is on the outs with whom, you know, who's dating who.
- Eventually he he winds up on the outs because William Cavender Senior dies of the plague and something that you could very well die of back then.
Examples
-
Now the Islamist AK party is in charge, and relations with Israel are on the outs.
Blog text (34) -
I've been on the outs with the man for years, so I'm a little surprised to hear from him.
Fiction book (1994) -
I thought you and Sarah were on the outs.
-
I was more on the outs with the in crowd, you know.
-
Harry, she said, is on the outs in his department.
Fiction book (1998) -
And it might put them on the outs with their hero.
Blog text (31) -
I am not on the outs with management.
Blog text (25) -
I've always been on the outs with my sister.
Fiction book (1995) -
They were on the outs.
Fiction book (1991) -
Well, I know you're on the outs with Lisa again.
Synonyms
19
7.2
Feeling left out of a group or activity
16
7.4
Left out by a group of people
Not friendly with someone because of an argument
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
on + the + outs
The phrase includes the obvious preposition 'on' and the root 'out', which can suggest exclusion or being outside a group, so a learner might partially infer a sense of not being included or in disagreement. However, the nominalized plural form 'the outs' and the idiomatic pattern 'on the outs (with someone)' are not fully compositional or universally transparent, so the exact meaning (estrangement/bad terms) is unlikely to be reliably derived by a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
On the outs comes from the simple image of someone left out, standing outside a group while others are together. So, the phrase now means 'in disagreement' or 'not part of the group'.