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Glite Dictionary
🧪 To test 🎭 To audition
to try out

to try out

64 2.8
To compete to be chosen for a role or team
  • phrasal verb
  • /traɪ aʊt/
translation icon : presentarse a
  • She's trying out for the national team in water polo.

She's trying out for the national team in water polo.

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Examples

  • She decided to try out for the soccer team after watching them practice.

  • Penny really wanted to try out for the school's soccer team.

    Academic text (1998)

  • You know, I like, hey, I should try out for the school play, Get on stage.

  • The girls here want to try out for the team.

    She's the Man (2006)

  • So, you girls gonna try out for the spring musical?

    Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)

  • What advice would you give to those who are trying out for the first time?

    Blog text (5)

  • You have to try out for the musical but also play in the championship game.

  • There are 65 boys trying out for 15 spots on the travel soccer team.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • I'm gonna try out for the Lakers.

    Fletch (1985)

  • A second group anxiously waited across the court for their chance to try out.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

to audition
vsto try out
169 3.9

To try out by performing to get a role in music, theatre or film

cover many roles including sports teams and group membership

Antonyms

to withdraw
466 2.8

To stop taking part in a place or activity

to decline
272 3.4

To say no politely to an offer or invitation

How Official

entry
50 2.8
to take part
169 1.4
to try out
64 2.8

Surface Forms

try out infinitive
tried out past
tried out past participle
trying out present participle
tries out third person singular

Morphology

try + out

The meaning 'to test or experiment with' is directly derivable from 'try' (to attempt or test) combined with the particle 'out', which commonly conveys trying something fully or externally in verb+particle constructions. This is a straightforward compositional pattern found cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will generally infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Try out comes from the image of stepping forward into the open to show your skills, with try meaning to attempt and out meaning out where people can see you. So it came to mean 'to perform or compete in order to be chosen'.