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to ride out

to ride out

20 5.3
To stay safe through a difficult or dangerous time
  • phrasal verb
  • /raɪd aʊt/
translation icon : sobrellevar
  • The rich and the educated would have stocked up enough to ride out the disaster.

It's a total commitment to ride out, to confront and ride out the worst.

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Examples

  • The move to independent publishing is making them dig in and ride out the storm.

    Blog text (23)
  • It's okay, kitties, we'll just hunker down and ride out the storm.

  • Then we ride out the storm.

  • The company did not have the assets to ride out the strike.

    Blog text (17)
  • Maybe it will, but my gut feeling is that he somehow managed to ride out that storm.

    Blog text (1)
  • To ride out the storm of war and to outlive the menace of tyranny.

  • Under the first option, Castro would insist that Cubans ride out the shortages of energy, food, and spare parts by working harder.

    Academic text (1990)
  • We need to ride out this harsh winter together, focused on survival.

  • During the crisis, the community worked together to ride out the difficult times.

  • It's tough, but we have to ride out the financial difficulties until things improve.

Synonyms

to survive
vsto ride out
2.7

Continue to exist after a dangerous or difficult event

emphasizes enduring the whole challenge without defeat or injury
to weather the storm
vsto ride out
  • Informal
11 5.2

To survive a difficult time by dealing with problems

stresses lasting without defeat or harm rather than active coping
to last out
vsto ride out
4 5.0

Continue to exist through a hard time until the end

highlights surviving without defeat rather than merely lasting out time
to gut out
vsto ride out
  • Informal
1 7.7

To keep going through a hard time by being brave

is similar but is neutral about courage and emotional effort
to outride
vsto ride out
8.1

To survive a difficult time or problem

has identical meaning but is phrased differently
to weather the challenge
vsto ride out
7.0

Manage to get through a difficult situation

focuses on surviving without defeat or harm rather than just managing
to brave out
vsto ride out
6.7

To stay and face a difficult situation without showing fear

describes enduring without stressing visible bravery or courage

Antonyms

220 3.0

To stop resisting and agree to what others want

44 6.6

To die because of a serious illness or strong force

How Resilient

to overcome
429 2.9
to weather
48 5.2
to ride out
20 5.3
to endure
304 3.5
to cope
272 2.9

Surface Forms

ride out infinitive
riding out present participle
rides out third person singular
rode out past
ridden out past participle

Morphology

ride + out

The sense 'endure/survive' is partly inferable because 'ride' can be metaphorically extended to staying on or being carried through something and 'out' signals through to the end. However, this metaphorical extension is not fully predictable from the literal meanings, so a B1 learner who knows only the constituents may not reliably derive the idiomatic sense without prior exposure.

Etymology

Ride out may come from the image of staying on a horse or a ship until a storm passes, literally ride the danger out. By staying put and waiting for the trouble to pass, you 'survive' or 'endure' the hard time, so today ride out means 'to endure and survive a difficult situation'.