If you strike out, you begin to do something different, often because you want to become more independent.
She wanted me to strike out on my own, buy a business. [VERBPARTICLE]
...a desire to make changes and to strike out in new directions. [VERBPARTICLE]
2. phrasal verb
If you strike outat someone, you hit, attack, or speak angrily to them.
He seemed always ready to strike out at anyone and for any cause. [VERBPARTICLE + at]
Frampton struck out blindly, hitting not Waddington, but an elderly man. [VERBPARTICLE]
3. phrasal verb
If you strike out in a particular direction, you start travelling in that direction.
[literary]
They left the car and struck out along the muddy track. [VERBPARTICLE preposition/adverb]
His team were the first to strike out for the mountain's summit. [VERBPARTICLE preposition/adverb]
4. ergative phrasal verb
In baseball, if a pitcher strikes out a batter or if a batter strikes out, the batter fails to hit three balls thrown properly by the pitcher, and is out.
He struck out ten batters, and allowed only two runs. [VERBPARTICLE noun (not pronoun)]
Canseco, nursing a back injury, struck out. [VERBPARTICLE]
5. phrasal verb
If someone strikes out, they fail.
[US, informal]
He was the firm's second lawyer. The first one had struck out completely. [VERBPARTICLE]
6. See also strike [sense 19]
See full dictionary entry for strike
strike out in British English
verb(adverb)
1. (transitive)
to remove or erase
2. (intransitive)
to start out or begin
to strike out on one's own
3. baseball
to put out or be put out on strikes
4. (intransitive) US and Canadian informal
to fail utterly
strike out in American English
1.
to make by hitting or striking
2.
to originate; produce; devise
3.
to aim or strike a blow; hit out
4.
to remove from a record, etc.; erase; expunge
5.
to begin moving or acting; start out
6. US, Baseball
a.
to be put out as the result of three strikes
b.
to put (a batter) out by pitching three strikes
7. US
to be a failure
See full dictionary entry for strike
Examples of 'strike out' in a sentence
strike out
We know how to show hospitality, but when we are afraid, we strike out too fast, and then find out afterwards whether there were cause.
various & introduction by Deirdre Chapman A ROOMFUL OF BIRDS - SCOTTISH SHORT STORIES 1990
Didn't they realize the animal might strike out at any instant?
Zindell, David THE BROKEN GOD
Bob's arms were around Randall, pinning Randall's arms against his own body so he couldn't strike out.
Miller, Sue FAMILY PICTURES (1990)
Chinese translation of 'strike out'
strike out
vi
(= speak out) 抨击(擊) (pēngjī)
(= hit out) 猛力打击(擊) (měnglì dǎjī)
(= become independent) 独(獨)闯(闖)新路 (dúchuǎng xīnlù)
(liter, in particular direction) 行进(進) (xíngjìn)
(Baseball) 使三击(擊)不中出局 (shǐ sān jī bùzhòng chūjú)
(US, inf, = fail) 失败(敗) (shībài)
vt
[word, sentence]删(刪)去 (shānqù)
See strike
Nearby words of
strike out
strike back
strike down
strike off
strike out
strike up
striker
striking
All related terms of 'strike out'
all-out strike
全体(體)罢(罷)工 quántǐ bàgōng
strike up
( conversation ) 开(開)始 kāishǐ
strike off
( from list ) 删去 shānqù
strike down
( kill ) 打倒 dǎdǎo
strike back
( Mil ) 反击(擊) fǎnjī
to come out (on strike)
罢(罷)工 bàgōng
(phrasal verb)
Definition
to start out or begin
They left the car and struck out along the muddy track.
Synonyms
set out
When setting out on a long walk, always wear suitable boots.