to rat out
76
8.6
- phrasal verb
- /ræt aʊt/
- Informal
:
delatar
- I hate to rat out my children, but they broke the lamp.
- rat out a friend
- never rat out
- get ratted out
He was the one who ratted us out to ESPN.
- He was the one who ratted us out to ESPN.
- Seth No, back in my day the president's staff wasn't ratting him out to the FBI.
- And so, so none of them ratted out, but the two team leaders fessed up.
- And if you tell me I love you, I have to rat you out.
- I don't get why a lot of people have this perception of me that I would rat out on my friends.
- So Barbara commented underneath the video and said, so she's ratting her mom out for having intelligence.
- I think when it comes to ratting out people, they don't have a you wear a mask.
- Well, I'm just, I'm curious, but they they've, they've tell the the migrants, if you rat me out, if you squeal, they're not going to get paid.
- So what she she snitches on everyone walks free to the people she's ratting out control all the alphabet agencies like she's done.
Examples
-
Are you gonna rat me out?
Fiction book (2002) -
Are you gonna have to rat me out now, George?
Fiction book (1993) -
I hate to rat out my children, my two boys.
-
Do you always rat out your friends that quickly?
-
And she rats me out to the principal.
-
And you don't rat out the people that love you.
-
If you want someone to rat out a criminal, offering them $10,000 might just do it.
Blog text (13) -
They're afraid I'll rat them out.
-
You ratted me out, you betrayed me.
-
They're all afraid I'm gonna rat them out.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
∞
2.7
Report someone's actions to the police or an authority
342
4.1
Reveal hidden facts or bad actions to people
143
4.6
Tell someone's secret to other people
114
3.4
Tell a secret on purpose or by accident
109
5.9
Betray someone by telling their secrets to others for personal gain
70
8.8
To betray others by telling secret information about them
70
8.4
To tell secret information to the police or other officials
41
6.8
To secretly tell the police about someone's illegal actions
37
5.1
To tell the authorities or the public about wrongdoing
36
7.9
To secretly tell the police or a person in charge about someone's bad actions
35
4.4
To report to a person in charge that someone did something wrong so they get in trouble
19
6.5
Tell authorities about someone, often exposing them to punishment
8
7.0
Tell a person in charge about someone else's bad actions in a childish way
8
6.8
Reveal secret information that shocks people
5
7.5
To tell a person in charge that someone did something wrong to get them in trouble
2
7.7
Reveal a secret or someone's identity
2
9.9
To tell authorities secret information about someone to get them in trouble
Antonyms
How Disloyal
32
6.5
143
4.6
- Informal
76
8.6
∞
1.0
- Informal
35
4.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is partly derivable: 'rat' in its verb sense (to inform on/betray) combined with the particle 'out' (to expose) yields 'reveal someone to authorities', so the composition follows a recognizable pattern. However, the verb sense of 'rat' is colloquial/slang and not obvious from the animal noun for many learners, and the exact pragmatic sense (betrayal to authorities) may require prior exposure, making it only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Rat out comes from calling someone a rat — a word for a person who betrays others — and the image of pulling them out into the open so people can 'tell on' them. So, to rat out someone means 'to reveal information about them to the police or others'.