Out-and-out

adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Complete, utter. attributive, not-comparable

    "He is an out-and-out idiot."

  2. 2
    Thoroughly cross-bred; a breeding strategy esp. with poultry where new roosters are circulated yearly to maintain a mongrel flock. attributive, not-comparable

    "For my own part I would sooner eat bread-and-cheese and know myself the possessor of an out-and-out horse, than sell him for the privilege of dining with the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen every day in the year."

Adjective
  1. 1
    complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abjectabsoluteabsoluteabsoluteabsolutelyadmitting no exception

Example

More examples

"We are singled out for meetings by other heterosexaul ^([sic]) women, approved by the superintendent, to gripe about us as lesbians. They are trying to change us, to pick our brains and force their beliefs on us. It is out and out abuse."

Related phrases

out-and-outer

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.