as in to lose
to undergo defeat
quite embarrassingly, the top-seeded player bowed out in the first round of competition
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Recent Examples of bow out
Top federal officials were slated to speak, only to bow out.
—
David Wickert, AJC.com, 31 Jan. 2026
Walz bowed out of his reelection race earlier this month.
—Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2026
But drummer/vibraphonist Chuck Redd — who has played at this three-day event at the Del Mar Hilton for nearly 20 consecutive years — is the first to make headlines around the world for bowing out of a performance.
—George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Jan. 2026
The North Carolina native appeared to reference bowing out of a potential feud with Kendrick Lamar and the backlash from it re-energizing him creatively, which led to a second disc for The Fall-Off and the aforementioned album cover.
—Michael Saponara, Billboard, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for bow out
David Wickert, AJC.com, 31 Jan. 2026
Walz bowed out of his reelection race earlier this month.
—Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2026
But drummer/vibraphonist Chuck Redd — who has played at this three-day event at the Del Mar Hilton for nearly 20 consecutive years — is the first to make headlines around the world for bowing out of a performance.
—George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Jan. 2026
The North Carolina native appeared to reference bowing out of a potential feud with Kendrick Lamar and the backlash from it re-energizing him creatively, which led to a second disc for The Fall-Off and the aforementioned album cover.
—Michael Saponara, Billboard, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for bow out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bow out
Verb
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There’s no way to replace all that was lost in less than two weeks, but Smook has been heartened by the support.—
Alex Wigglesworth,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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That is the case in this Tuesday night matchup, as the Lakers are on the second night of a back-to-back after losing to the league-best Oklahoma City Thunder, 119-110, on Monday night in Los Angeles.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Council members had long pledged to quell gang violence and improve life for Haiti but fell overwhelmingly short.—
EVENS SANON,
Arkansas Online,
8 Feb. 2026
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Short video and artificial intelligence video generation company Kuaishou fell by 11% during the same time period.—
Evelyn Cheng,
CNBC,
8 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bow out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bow%20out. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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