Meaning & use
omit
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To not include someone or something, either on purpose or by mistake.
Grammar: Takes an object: omit a name, omit the details.
Patterns
- omit something from something
- omit to do something
- omit doing something
Please don't omit your phone number from the form.
The report omits any mention of the accident.
She was omitted from the guest list by accident.
verbtransitiveformal
To fail to do something that you should do.
Grammar: Followed by a to-infinitive: omit to mention, omit to check.
Patterns
- omit to do something
He omitted to tell us that the office would be closed.
The bank omitted to send the promised statement.
Word forms
| third person singular | omits |
|---|---|
| past tense | omitted |
| past participle | omitted |
| -ing form | omitting |
Common combinations
- omit a detail
- The witness omitted one small detail that later proved important.
- omit a name
- The editor omitted my name from the credits.
- omit from the list
- Two entries were omitted from the final list.
- deliberately omit
- They deliberately omitted the clause to save money.
- accidentally omit
- I accidentally omitted the last page when printing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- leave out
- More informal and common in speech; omit is more formal and often used in writing.
- exclude
- Suggests keeping someone or something out on purpose, while omit can also mean a simple mistake.
- skip
- Informal; often means to pass over something quickly rather than to leave it out entirely.
- drop
- Often means to remove something that was there before, not just to fail to include it.
Opposites
Word family
- omission noun
- The act of leaving something out, or the thing that was left out.
Commonly confused: omit or emit? omit or submit?
omit vs emit
Emit means to send out light, heat, sound or gas; omit means to leave something out. They look similar but mean very different things.
omit vs submit
Submit means to hand in or send something for approval; omit means not to include it.
Practice
Which sentence uses omit correctly?
Choose one answer.
Omit meaning 'fail to do something' is followed by a to-infinitive: omit to lock. The -ing form is used only when omit means 'leave out' (omit mentioning), so option 2 does not fit this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “omit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.