Meaning & use
out of context
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Meanings
phrasefixed phrase
Presented without the surrounding words or circumstances that explain it, so that its real meaning is lost or changed.
Grammar: Often follows a verb like take, quote or use: she quoted him out of context.
Patterns
- take something out of context
- quote someone out of context
- be (seen) out of context
The senator said his comment had been taken out of context and made to sound cruel.
Read out of context, the sentence seems to praise the plan, but the paragraph is actually criticizing it.
A single photo out of context can tell a very misleading story.
adjectiveafter a verb
Not fitting the setting or situation it appears in, so it seems odd or misplaced.
Grammar: Used after be or look: the joke felt out of context at a funeral.
Patterns
- feel out of context
- look out of context
The modern sofa looked completely out of context in the old farmhouse.
His cheerful tone felt out of context during such a serious meeting.
Common combinations
- taken out of context
- My email was taken out of context and shared widely.
- quote out of context
- Reviewers often quote a film out of context to make it sound better.
- seem out of context
- The comment seemed out of context until she explained the background.
- completely out of context
- The clip was shown completely out of context.
- misleading out of context
- The statistic is misleading out of context.
Synonyms and how they differ
- misquoted
- Misquoted means the words themselves were changed, whereas out of context means the words are accurate but the surrounding explanation was removed.
- misleading
- Misleading describes the effect on the audience, while out of context names the cause.
- out of place
- Out of place describes something that does not belong in a setting, and is closer to the second sense than to the quotation sense.
Opposites
Word family
- context noun
- the surrounding words or situation that give meaning
- contextual adjective
- depending on or relating to context
- contextualize verb
- to place something in its context so it can be understood
- contextually adverb
- in a way that relates to context
Commonly confused: out of context or out of place?
out of context vs out of place
Out of place is about something that does not belong somewhere; out of context is mainly about words or facts that lost their explaining background.
Practice
The politician claimed the video had been edited so that her words were taken ____ .
Choose one answer.
Out of context fits because her words were shown without the surrounding explanation. In context has the opposite meaning, and out of control or out of touch have different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “out of context”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.