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rule out meaning and examples

2025-09-28

Meaning

To rule out means to eliminate or exclude something as a possibility. It is often used when considering options, causes, or explanations and deciding that one of them is not possible or relevant.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: Phrasal verb (transitive).
  • Structure: rule out + noun/possibility/cause/option.
  • Often used in the negative: cannot rule out (meaning something is still possible).

Typical sentence structures:

  • rule out + noun
  • rule out the possibility of + noun/gerund
  • cannot rule out + noun

Common Phrases

  • rule out the possibility
  • rule out completely
  • cannot rule out
  • rule out as a cause

Collocations

  • rule out the possibility
  • rule out an option
  • rule out a cause
  • rule out immediately
  • rule out completely

Examples

  1. The police have ruled out robbery as a motive.
  2. We cannot rule out the possibility of rain tomorrow.
  3. His injuries rule out any chance of playing in the final match.
  4. The doctor ruled out cancer after the test results came back.
  5. Budget cuts ruled out the plan to expand the library.
  6. I won’t rule out working abroad in the future.
  7. The manager quickly ruled out the idea as impractical.
  8. We can rule out human error as a cause of the accident.
  • eliminate
  • exclude
  • dismiss
  • reject
  • cancel out

Antonym

  • include
  • allow for
  • consider
  • accept