block out
block out verb: to prevent from entering or penetrating.
Verb
block out (third-person singular simple present blocks out, present participle blocking out, simple past and past participle blocked out)
- to prevent from entering or penetrating.
- High-factor suncream blocks out the sun's rays.
- First Class has curtains throughout, and they are sturdy, dark and block out the light very well.2019 October 23, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 51
- to prevent (a thought) from entering one's mind.
- After finding out she had terminal cancer, she tried to block out any thoughts of her own mortality.
- Wow, way to go, baby! I gotta block out how much better you are than me...2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Glitzville
- to cover something, so as to make it impossible to see.
- to begin to reduce to shape; to mark out roughly; to lay out.
- to block out a plan
Forms of block out
| third-person singular present | blocks out |
|---|---|
| present participle | blocking out |
| past participle | blocked out |
| past | blocked out |
Questions about block out
- What does block out mean?
- Block out means to prevent from entering or penetrating.
- What part of speech is block out?
- Block out is a verb.
- What is the past tense of block out?
- The past tense of block out is blocked out.
Words near block out in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: block out (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-block out.ogg.
Cite this entry: “block out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/block_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.