Out + Verb

If you outrun someone, you run faster than them. If you outplay your opponent, you play better than them. If you outfish someone, you catch more/ bigger  fish. 

1.      By far, my favorite TV series is a reality show called “Survivor”.  About 20 contestants are castaway on an island or isolated somewhere in the wilderness. The contestants are split into tribes and have to survive the elements, construct shelter, build fire, look for water, and scrounge for food and other necessities for the entire filming period which is around 39 days. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe members until only one final contestant remains and wins the title of “Sole Survivor” and a million dollar cash prize. The slogan for the series is: “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.” To become the Sole Survivor, one contestant has to be smarter, play better and last longer than everyone else.

2.      Children grow so quickly that they outgrow their clothes on a regular basis. Also you can outgrow something as you get older and more mature or get more experience. Have you outgrown your job?

3.      When it comes to speech recognition technology, Google is outperforming Apple’s assistant, “Siri”. On the other hand, however, it doesn’t actually do anything except search.  Google can tell you the height of the Golden Gate Bridge faster than Siri, but it can’t set appointments, take dictation, or make a phone call.

4.      When you do a phenomenal job with something or made more effort than usual, people can say that you have outdone yourself. London really outdid itself with the last Olympics. It was really first class!

5.      Nobody is perfect, but I think if your positive characteristics outweigh your negative ones, then you’re OK!

6.      If something or someone outshines “all the rest”, it is markedly more beautiful, of better quality etc.  Can you think of someone or something that outshines all else?

7.      Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, also known as the “Iron Lady”, died at the age of 87. She had to outmatch all of her rivals when running for office, which was not an easy thing in those days. Nelson Mandela was now 94 years old when he passed away, which means that he outlived Margaret Thatcher.

8.      Here are some other common examples of verb combinations with “out”: outthink, outsmart, outclass, outguess. You can literally use any verb with this construction, as long as it makes sense!