get out of sth
— phrasal verb with get uk/ɡet/us/ɡet/verb present participle getting, past tense got, past participle got or US usually gotten
(AVOID)
B2 to avoid doing something that you do not want to do, especially by giving an excuse:
I think her backache was just a way of getting out of the housework.
[ + -ing verb ] If I can get out of going to the meeting tonight, I will.
More examples
- She got out of playing netball by claiming to have injured her knee.
- There's no point trying to get out of it.
- The only way of getting out of swimming lessons is to have a note signed by a parent.
- He's desperate to get out of doing the night shift.
- I've got a meeting on Friday evening, but I'm trying to get out of it.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Avoiding action
- avoid
- avoid sth like the plague idiom
- avoidance
- bottle
- bottle out
- flinch
- flinch from sth/doing sth
- fudge
- get round sth
- get-out clause
- insure
- shrink
- sit on your arse idiom
- skip out on sb/sth
- stand around
- stand by
- stand round
- steer
- welch
- welsh
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(STOP)
to give up or stop a habit or a regular activity:
I must get out of the habit of finishing people's sentences for them.
If you get out of a routine, it's very hard to get back into it.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Causing something to end
- abandon
- all good things (must) come to an end idiom
- and have done with it idiom
- be over the hump idiom
- bitter
- draw
- lay
- lay sth to rest idiom
- lay the ghost of sth (to rest) idiom
- leave it at that idiom
- leave off (sth/doing sth)
- let sb be idiom
- lift
- raise
- stone-dead
- the curtain falls on sth idiom
- to the bitter end idiom
- top sth off
- walk
- walk away
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