Word.ws English Dictionary

lookout

/ˈlʊkaʊt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈlɵkawt/

lookout noun: a vantage point with a view of the surrounding area.

Noun

lookout (plural lookouts)

  1. A vantage point with a view of the surrounding area.
    • Gulangyu island has a spectacular crows-nest lookout reached by winding stone staircases. From so high, the Nationalist islands look like lumps of cookie batter dropped onto the smooth harbor, with picturesque sailing junks not far away.1980 April 9 [1980 April 8], Jay Mathews, “Nationalist Islands Sound Siren Call to Mainland Chinese”, in The Washington Post, sourced from XIAMEN (Amoy), China, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
  2. A session of watching for an approaching enemy, police, etc.
    • We kept a lookout all night, but nobody came.
  3. A person on watch for approaching enemy, police, danger, etc.
    • The raid failed when the lookout noticed the enemy group.
    • A lack of lookouts was partially responsible for the deaths of two track workers at Margam East Junction in south Wales on July 3, according to an interim report published by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch on December 5. [...] "The absence of a lookout with no involvement in the work...2019 December 18, Andrew Roden, “Absence of lookouts contributed to Margam deaths”, in Rail, page 20
  4. A subject for observation; a prospect or view.
    • Looking, seeing: search or searching; Looking-for (B.), expectation; Lookout, a careful watching for: an elevated place from which to observe: one engaged in watching. And, you know, she OUGHT to keep enough to pay for her season-ticket; but no, she comes to me about that, and I have to find the...
    • "It's a poor lookout," said Mrs. Morel bitterly.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 6, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC
  5. One's perspective, outlook; hence, one's responsibility. (used with a possessive pronoun or a noun in a possessive form).
    • Every person's interest is his own lookout.
    • "Strickland's painting in my studio."
      "Well?"
      […]
      "Strickland can't work with anyone else in the studio."
      "Damn it all, it's your studio. That's his lookout."1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 27”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC
  6. An observation window.
    • Twenty-one of these vehicles were later converted into bogie brake vans for freight service. [...] The extreme width over the side lookouts is 9 ft.1941 February, Railway Magazine, page 75, untitled paragraph
  7. A joist that extends in cantilever out from the exterior wall (or wall plate) of a building, supporting the roof sheathing and providing a nailing surface for the fascia boards.
    Synonyms:
    outlooker

Proper noun capitalized: Lookout

Lookout

  1. A census-designated place in Modoc County, California, United States.

lookout meaning in Malayalam, Kannada and Arabic

lookout in Malayalam

watchtower, observation post, lookout point
നിരീക്ഷണസ്ഥലം, കാവൽസ്ഥലം, നിരീക്ഷണമേഖല, നിന്നു നിരീക്ഷിക്കാനുള്ള സ്ഥാനം, പാറാവുസ്ഥാനം, പാറാവുമന്ദിരം
sentry, watchman, watch
നിരീക്ഷകൻ, കാവൽക്കാരൻ, ആരക്ഷകൻ, ആരക്ഷികൻ, കാവലാൾ, കാവലാളി
outlook, prospect, chance of success
ജീവിതവീക്ഷണം, ഫലപ്രതീക്ഷ, ഫലസാദ്ധ്യത, ഭാഗ്യസാദ്ധ്യത, വിജയസാദ്ധ്യത, പ്രയോജനസാദ്ധ്യത
problem, concern, business
ഒരാളുടെ സ്വന്തം കാര്യം, പ്രശ്നം, ചിന്താവിഷയം, കാര്യം, വിഷയം, സംഗതി

lookout in Kannada

ಕಾವಲೆಡೆ, ಕಾವಲು ಗಾರ

lookout in Arabic

person on watch for approaching enemy, police, etc.
نَاطُور nāṭūr

Examples of lookout in a sentence

  • I'm on the lookout for a good example of a Roman dinar from the 1st century. Let me know if you hear of one anywhere.
  • I put out a “be on the lookout” for a lady in a blue dress.
  • It is the midges, clegs and ticks you should be on the lookout for.

All 36 example sentences with lookout

Synonyms of lookout

All synonyms of lookout

Forms of lookout

plurallookouts
alternative formlook-out

Plural of lookout: lookouts

Origin of lookout

Deverbal from look out.

Words formed from lookout

Phrases with lookout

Questions about lookout

What does lookout mean?
Lookout means a vantage point with a view of the surrounding area.
What is lookout in Malayalam?
Lookout in Malayalam is നിരീക്ഷണസ്ഥലം, കാവൽസ്ഥലം, നിരീക്ഷണമേഖല. See Lookout meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is lookout?
Lookout can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lookout?
Lookout is pronounced /ˈlʊkaʊt/ (UK).
What is the plural of lookout?
The plural of lookout is lookouts.

Words near lookout in the dictionary

  1. lookit
  2. lookless
  3. Lookman
  4. lookoff
  5. lookoffs
  6. lookout
  7. lookout man
  8. lookout men
  9. lookout tower
  10. lookout towers
  11. lookouts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lookout (page history and authors); Lookout (page history and authors); lookout (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); lookout (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lookout.wav.

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