bow out

verb

bowed out; bowing out; bows out

intransitive verb

: retire, withdraw

also : lose

bowed out in the first round of the tournament

Synonyms of bow out

• lose
• fall

Examples of bow out in a Sentence

quite embarrassingly, the top-seeded player bowed out in the first round of competition

Recent Examples on the Web

Charleson received rave reviews, but died just seven weeks after bowing out. — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026

But Paramount eventually upped its offer to buy all of Warner for $31 per share, and Netflix opted to bow out of the race. — ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026

If not, they are destined to bow out much earlier than anyone wants. — Jon Krawczynski, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2026

On Wednesday the Sox advanced to the American League Division Series with a 7-3 win over the Houston Astros in their wild-card series, about three hours before the Cubs bowed out of their wild-card series with a 4-1 loss to the San Diego Padres. — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bow out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout