Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to lock out

to lock out

65 3.8
To stop someone from entering a building or using an account
  • phrasal verb
  • /lɑk aʊt/
translation icon : bloquear
  • If you enter the wrong password too many times, the system will lock you out of your account.
  • locked out of the system

Him and his wife had come home and they had locked themselves out of the house.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I locked myself out of my apartment.

    Eraserhead (1977)

  • I locked myself out.

    The Last Kiss (2006)

  • There appears to be a real chance the owners will lock out the players again.

    Blog text (18)

  • Let's go before they lock us out.

    Ezra (2024)

  • I got locked out of my room yesterday.

    A Little White Lie (2023)

  • Why do they want to lock you out of your own lab?"

    Fiction book (2001)

  • They locked me out of my office.

    Head of State (2003)

  • They locked me out of my computer and cleaned out my files.

    Disclosure (1994)

  • So instead of locking out the public and just letting your followers, you know, comment, you lock out all the unverified.

    Lex Fridman

  • In October, the US sued Google for using a web of exclusionary deals to lock out competitors in the search business.

    Patrick Boyle

Synonyms

to keep out
vsto lock out
172 1.3

To stop people or things from entering a place

also covers preventing access to systems or accounts not just places
to shut out
vsto lock out
99 3.8

To stop something from entering, being included, or being thought about

focuses on blocking access to places systems or accounts

Antonyms

to open
∞ 1.0

To make something not closed so you can get in

to allow in
172 1.3

Let someone or something enter a place

How Blocked

to ban
  • Formal
484 1.4
to bar
31 3.3
to lock out
65 3.8
to block
∞ 3.0
to restrict
361 3.1

Surface Forms

lock out infinitive
locked out past
locked out past participle
locking out present participle
locks out third person singular

Morphology

lock + out

The meaning ‘to prevent someone from entering or accessing’ is directly derivable from combining 'lock' (to secure so it cannot open) with the particle 'out' (excluded), which together convey preventing entry or access. This verb+particle composition is a common, literal phrasal pattern in English (and mirrored in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Lock out may come from the picture of someone turning a heavy lock and shutting the door so others are kept out. That's why the phrase means 'to stop someone from entering or using' a place, system, or account.