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bow out meaning and examples

2025-09-12

Meaning

  • Bow out means to withdraw, resign, or step down from a position, activity, or responsibility, often politely or gracefully.
  • It can also mean to stop participating in something after contributing for a while.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: phrasal verb (intransitive).

  • Structure: bow out (of sth)

    • He bowed out of the project.

  • Often used in professional, social, or performance-related contexts.

Common Phrases

  • bow out gracefully
  • bow out early
  • bow out of politics
  • bow out of competition

Collocations

  • gracefully bow out
  • decide to bow out
  • choose to bow out
  • forced to bow out
  • bow out after years of service

Examples

  1. After 20 years in the company, she decided to bow out and retire.
  2. The actor bowed out gracefully after his final stage performance.
  3. He had to bow out of the competition due to an injury.
  4. The chairman announced that he would bow out at the end of the year.
  5. The politician bowed out of politics after losing the election.
  6. She chose to bow out early rather than risk failure.
  7. The team was forced to bow out of the tournament.
  8. He bowed out gracefully to give younger players a chance.
  • resign
  • withdraw
  • step down
  • retire
  • pull out

Antonym

  • stay on
  • continue
  • remain
  • persist