to strike out
18
3.9
- phrasal verb
- /straɪk aʊt/
- Informal
- He felt discouraged after he struck out during the job interview.
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Watch on YouTubeLike, you've never struck out, like ever.
- Like, you've never struck out, like ever.
- So they Peck, you know, you might say you struck out, fall down, they Peck you.
Examples
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I tried to strike out on my own, and I struck out.
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But in the end, I... uh, I struck out.
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But you just struck out.
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Looks like he struck out.
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Well, we struck out again, right?
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I haven't struck out this many times in the dating game ever before in my life.
Blog text (2) -
When Richardson's wife came to the phone, I told her that I'd struck out with the coroner.
Fiction book (1995) -
Fine, I struck out.
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We struck out.
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I struck out.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Not succeed in doing something you wanted to do
Antonyms
How Successful
827
2.0
∞
3.2
91
3.9
- Informal
18
3.9
38
6.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The element 'out' conveys movement away or independence, but the given sense of 'strike' (remove/cross out) does not directly mean 'begin'; the phrase relies on a metaphorical extension (similar to 'set out' or 'venture out') to mean starting independently. Because that connection is not fully predictable from the literal meanings, a B1 learner who knows the words would likely need prior exposure to infer the exact sense.
Etymology
Strike out may come from the image of someone trying to hit a target and missing: you strike at it but hit nothing, so the phrase means 'to fail' in an attempt.