Word.ws English Dictionary

on the outlook

on the outlook prepositional phrase: watching intently (from a vantage point, for someone or something).

Prepositional phrase

  1. Watching intently (from a vantage point, for someone or something).
    • One of the gang that used to be upon the outlook from this station, as soon as any caravan came in sight, cried out, Ribieraini, which in Tigrè signifies they are coming this way;1791, James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773, Dublin: P. Wogan et al., Volume 3, Book 5, Chapter 4, p. 444
    • […] an extract from his log-book of the transactions of the day […] intimated their being on the outlook for a smuggling lugger1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald...

Examples of on the outlook in a sentence

  • Behind the curtain, between the laths of the Venetian blind, his mother would be secretly on the outlook watching for his return;1884, Margaret Oliphant, chapter 3, in The Wizard’s Son, volume 1, London: Macmillan, page 47:
  • Martian patrol craft, the military on the outlook for any sign of unusual activity.1954, Philip K. Dick, “The Crystal Crypt”, in The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, volume 1, Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, page 289:

Synonyms of on the outlook

Forms of on the outlook

alternative formupon the outlook

Questions about on the outlook

What does on the outlook mean?
On the outlook means watching intently (from a vantage point, for someone or something).
How do you use on the outlook in a sentence?
Behind the curtain, between the laths of the Venetian blind, his mother would be secretly on the outlook watching for his return;
What part of speech is on the outlook?
On the outlook is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the outlook in the dictionary

  1. on the other bus
  2. on the other hand
  3. on the other paw
  4. on the other side of
  5. on the otherhand
  6. on the outlook
  7. on the outs
  8. on the outside
  9. on the outside looking in
  10. on the outside, looking in
  11. on the pad

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the outlook (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: “on the outlook.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_outlook. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.