Meaning & use
foul out
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Meanings
verbintransitivesport
In basketball, to be forced to leave the game after committing too many personal fouls.
Grammar: Used without an object; the player is the subject: 'She fouled out in the third quarter.'
Patterns
- foul out of something
- foul out with something
Their best player fouled out with two minutes left on the clock.
He fouled out after picking up his sixth foul of the game.
She fouled out of the match early in the fourth quarter.
nouncountablesport
An instance of a basketball player being removed from the game after reaching the limit of personal fouls.
Grammar: Often written with a hyphen: 'foul-out'. It can be used as a modifier before another noun, as in 'foul-out rule'.
Patterns
- a foul-out
- the foul-out rule
The team struggled after the foul-out of their center.
His foul-out changed the momentum of the game.
The coach was frustrated by the early foul-out.
Word forms
| third person singular | fouls out |
|---|---|
| past tense | fouled out |
| past participle | fouled out |
| -ing form | fouling out |
| plural | foul-outs |
Common combinations
- foul out of a game
- He fouled out of the game in the final minute.
- foul out with six fouls
- She fouled out with six fouls, which is the maximum allowed.
- foul out early
- The star player fouled out early, leaving the team short-handed.
- foul out in the fourth quarter
- He fouled out in the fourth quarter and had to watch from the bench.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disqualify
- A more general word meaning to officially remove someone from a competition; it is not specific to basketball fouls.
- eject
- Used for being forced to leave, often for bad behavior, but not necessarily for reaching a foul limit.
Word family
Commonly confused: foul out or fowl?
foul out vs fowl
A bird, especially a farm bird like a chicken. 'Foul' is the sports term; 'fowl' is the animal.
Practice
In basketball, what does it mean when a player fouls out?
Choose one answer.
To foul out means to be forced to leave the game because you have reached the maximum number of personal fouls. Option 3 describes committing a single foul, not the result of reaching the limit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “foul out”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.