Word.ws English Dictionary

dropped out

dropped out is the simple past and past participle of drop out.

Meaning of drop out

Verb

drop out (third-person singular simple present drops out, present participle dropping out, simple past and past participle dropped out)

  1. (idiomatic) To leave (school, a race, etc.) prematurely and voluntarily.
    • Nothing went well in high school, so he dropped out.
  2. To opt out of conventional society.
  3. (usually, electronic signal) To be lost or momentarily interrupted.
    • I can't make phone calls because the line keeps dropping out.
  4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, out.
    • Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
  5. (intransitive, Of a trapdoor or similar) To give way under someone.
    • The board he was walking on dropped out.
    Synonyms:
    fall out
  6. (figuratively, intransitive, usually, Of the ground, floor, snow) To cause someone to slip and/or fall down.
    • The ground dropped out from under him.
    Synonyms:
    fall out

See all 7 meanings of drop out

Questions about dropped out

What is dropped out the simple past and past participle of?
Dropped out is the simple past and past participle of drop out.

Words near dropped out in the dictionary

  1. dropped off the map
  2. dropped off the radar
  3. dropped one's beads
  4. dropped one's bundle
  5. dropped one's guard
  6. dropped out
  7. dropped round
  8. dropped scone
  9. dropped scones
  10. dropped someone a line
  11. dropped someone in it

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dropped out (page history and authors); drop 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.

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