the only way out
- idiom
- When he realized he was trapped, he understood that the only way out was to ask for help.
And when you are experiencing acute grief, sadly, the only way out is through.
- And when you are experiencing acute grief, sadly, the only way out is through.
- But just like just like in a black hole in space, the only way out is through.
- And, and the only way out of this situation to a better life is through.
- But we had we had we had the only way out is through my friends and we walked through it totally.
- Course all, the experts agree that the only way out of this pandemic is to increase in any way possible widely available reliable, testing so.
Examples
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The front doors are the only way out of the building.
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And when you are experiencing acute grief, sadly, the only way out is through.
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But just like just like in a black hole in space, the only way out is through.
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And yeah, the only way out is through, as far as I can see with this.
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And, and the only way out of this situation to a better life is through.
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It's the only way out of this.
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That door is always locked, and it's the only way out.
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The only way out of here is through me.
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There is light at the end of the tunnel, and the only way out is through it.
Blog text (33) -
The only way out is upstairs, let's go.
Synonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'only' restricts 'way' (method/path) and 'out' signals exiting or leaving, so a learner who knows those words can infer 'the sole method for escaping or leaving'. This NP pattern and the idea of a single route to exit is cross-linguistically common, making the expression immediately understandable to B1 learners who know the constituents.
Etymology
The only way out paints the image of being in a room or maze with one door or path, the only way to get out. So, it means 'the only way to escape' or 'the only solution'.