Word.ws English Dictionary

down and out

down and out adjective: in a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.

Adjective

down and out (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) In a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.
    • People who are down and out need some place to turn.
    • So if I ever get my hand on a dollar again, I'm gonna hold on to it 'til them eagles grin
      Nobody knows you, when you down and out
      In my pocket not one penny, and my friends I haven't any1923, Jimmy Cox, “Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out”

Noun

down and out (plural down and outs)

  1. Synonym of down-and-outer.
    Synonyms:
    down-and-outer

down and out meaning in Malayalam

down and out in Malayalam

impoverished, destitute, poverty-stricken
വീടും വരുമാനവുമില്ലാത്ത, പാപ്പരായ, ഗതിയറ്റ, അദ്രവ്യ, അസ്വ, സ്വത്തില്ലാത്ത
(down-and-out) indigent, poor person, pauper
നിർദ്ധനൻ, പാപ്പർ, പാപ്പരായവൻ, നിസ്സ്വൻ, പാവം, സാധു

Synonyms of down and out

Forms of down and out

Adjective
alternative formdown-and-out
Noun
pluraldown and outs

Words formed from down and out

Questions about down and out

What does down and out mean?
Down and out means in a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.
What is down and out in Malayalam?
Down and out in Malayalam is വീടും വരുമാനവുമില്ലാത്ത, പാപ്പരായ, ഗതിയറ്റ. See Down and out meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is down and out?
Down and out can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near down and out in the dictionary

  1. dowls
  2. Dowman
  3. down
  4. down and dirty
  5. down and distance
  6. down and out
  7. down and outs
  8. down antiquark
  9. down antiquarks
  10. down at heel
  11. down at heels

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: down and out (page history and authors); down and out (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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-down and out.ogg.

Cite this entry: “down and out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/down_and_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.