OUT-AND-OUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does out-and-out mean? 

• OUT-AND-OUT (adjective)
  The adjective OUT-AND-OUT has 1 sense:

1. complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers

  Familiarity information: OUT-AND-OUT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OUT-AND-OUT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers

Synonyms:

absolute; downright; out-and-out; rank; right-down; sheer

Context example:

sheer stupidity

Similar:

complete (having every necessary or normal part or component or step)

 Context examples 

Out-and-out beggars get taken care of, but poor gentle folks fare badly, because they won't ask, and people don't dare to offer charity.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I'll never tell him to my dying day, wild horses shan't drag it out of me, so you'll forgive me, Meg, and I'll do anything to show how out-and-out sorry I am, he added, looking very much ashamed of himself.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)