as in to lose
to undergo defeat
quite embarrassingly, the top-seeded player bowed out in the first round of competition
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Recent Examples of bow out
Others bowed out voluntarily, like Issa Rae’s performance, Fellow Travelers, and Hamilton.
—
Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 10 May 2025
Buffett bows out Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.
—Jacob Pramuk, CNBC, 5 May 2025
Yet Harbour initially thought his character should have bowed out of the series even sooner.
—William Earl, Variety, 23 Apr. 2025
Boston swept them — then collapsed twice with 20-point leads and bowed out in six.
—Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 18 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for bow out
Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 10 May 2025
Buffett bows out Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.
—Jacob Pramuk, CNBC, 5 May 2025
Yet Harbour initially thought his character should have bowed out of the series even sooner.
—William Earl, Variety, 23 Apr. 2025
Boston swept them — then collapsed twice with 20-point leads and bowed out in six.
—Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 18 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for bow out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bow out
Verb
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The University of San Diego and San Diego State both lost Thursday to drop into the losers’ brackets of their respective double-elimination conference baseball tournaments.—
Bill Center,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 May 2025
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Lu Chuan is also developing a road movie script about a couple traveling to the woman’s hometown for a wedding ceremony, but the woman has lost her memory.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
22 May 2025
Verb
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More: Stocks fall, Dow down 800 points as bonds tank amid tax debate.—
Riley Beggin,
USA Today,
23 May 2025
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So in the end, how could this not be Beltré, who fell just short of 3,000 hits and 500 homers on this side of the Y2K line, while redefining what elite third-base leatherwork looked like?—
Jayson Stark,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bow out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bow%20out. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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