The Phrasal Verb 'Let Out' Explained
- Feb 27
- 12 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'let out' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
This post is all about the English phrasal verb 'let out', which is one with very diverse meanings that range from making a sound, to increasing the size of an item of clothing. In the post, I explain all of the different meanings that 'let out' has and also give you a useful idiom that you can use with your English-speaking friends and colleagues. As per usual, there are lots of examples for each usage to show you how they are used by speakers in everyday language. So, let's make a start and see what 'let out' is all about....
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
I love writing this blog & helping learners but I receive very little feedback as to how useful it is or if people enjoy & learn from it. Therefore, if you find the post useful, please like & share it or leave a comment at the end. I'd be very grateful. Thank you! James 😊 |
THE BASICS
LET OUT: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 6 |
Past tense forms | Let out / Let out |
Separable? | Yes |
Before we look at the meanings of the phrasal verb 'let out', let's first consider the two little words that form it, 'let' and 'out', and what they mean on their own.
Let - 'To let' is a very common irregular English verb whose main meanings are 'to allow or to permit something' and 'to not stop something from happening'. In addition to this, 'to let' has another less common meaning that is key for this phrasal verb, which is 'to rent your house or property to someone' and we will come back to this later. As I mentioned, 'to let' is an irregular verb and its past tense forms are 'let' and 'let'.
I let my cats sleep on the bed.
I remember the first time my parents let me drink a glass of wine.
Our boss won't let us finish early today.
Can you let me know that you got home safely.
We are planning to let this property.
Out - The prepositional particle 'out' is one that is commonly found in phrasal verb constructions and functions as the natural opposite of the word 'in'. We use 'out' to talk about moving towards or being on the external part of something or moving away from something. These ideas are often carried across to literal phrasal verbs like 'go out'. In addition to this, 'out' can also add the ideas of emergence or visibility (come out), completion (figure out), exhaustion (run out) and distribution (hand out), among others.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's now move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'let out'....
MEANING 1: To allow to leave
CEFR Language Level | A2 - Elementary |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To release |
Separable? | Yes |
The first meaning of the phrasal verb 'let out' that we will look at is the literal meaning, which is simply to allow someone or something to leave an internal space.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
|
Like a good pet owner, every morning when I come downstairs I feed my cats, Arthur and Henry. Once they have finished eating, they run to the back door because they want to go outside and they need me to let them out. In other words, they are bored of the house and want to see what exciting things they can find in the garden and it is me who can open the door and allow them to go outside
This is just one example of many situations in everyday life when you can use this first application of 'let out'. It is not just used with cats or dogs but also people. For example, you can open the door to let a passenger out of a car or nightclub security staff can let customers out of the door when they want to go home. The key idea behind this is that the person or animal that wants to leave the internal space cannot do so without the assistance or permission of another person who is usually in control of the space.
On a grammatical note, this application is separable and the direct object (the person or animal leaving the space) can go between 'let' and 'out' or after them, without changing the meaning.
The teacher let the students out of the class five minutes early.
Tim's parents wouldn’t let him out of the room until he apologised.
The security guard let the visitors out after the tour ended
Amanda forgot to let the cat out, so he scratched at the bedroom door all night.
Could you let the chickens out in the morning?
Boris quickly let the horse out of the stable.
The prisoners were let out of jail at dawn.
We weren’t let out until the rain finally stopped.
You should also note that we can also use this application for liquids and gases that are contained inside something and escape when somebody makes it possible. Most commonly, this is with the nouns 'water' and 'air'; for example if you have an air bed, you will need to let the air inside it out before you can fold it and put it away. Likewise, if you have a nice relaxing bath, you will need to let the water out at the end once you have finished.
Andrew accidentally let the air out of the car tyres.
Don’t let the all of the air out of the balloon yet!
The valve slowly began to let out gas from the container.
Someone has let the air out of my bike tyres again!
The workers opened the gate to let the water out of the dam.
Paul loosened the pipe and let out some water
MEANING 2: To make a sound
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To emit |
Separable? | Yes |
The second of our applications of the phrasal verb 'let out' is very similar to the first but is a bit more specific and means 'to make a sound'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
|
To give you some clarification, we mostly (not always) use this application in reference to sounds that people make. This tends to be when the sounds are quite sudden or unexpected. These are often tied to emotions or reaction like screaming, sighing, groaning or laughing. The use of this application of 'let out' can often convey the idea that the sound was involuntary or unplanned.
Less commonly, we can use it to talk about objects and machines that make a sound that is typically short and unexpected. For example, a train might let out a whistle sound as it is moving along or a smoke alarm might let a high-pitched sound out when triggered by burnt toast....I'm sure you get the idea 😊
Grammatically, whilst this application is technically separable, it tens to be used more in the non-separable way by native speakers.
Pam let out a loud scream when she saw the spider.
The audience let out a collective gasp as the lights suddenly went out.
Pippa let out a nervous laugh during the awkward silence.
Jason let out a groan when he realised his mistake.
Alan let out a shout of frustration and slammed the door.
The football fans let out a cheer when their team scored in the final minute.
The little boy let out a frightened cry when he fell over.
Anthony let out a sharp yell as the cold water hit him.
The brakes on the car let out a squeal as the car came to a stop.
One other time you can use this application is in reference to your breathing. If you let a breath out, you release a breath from your lungs and mouth. This may be because you were holding your breath for a specific reason or maybe if you are worried about something, you may let out a big breath when you hear some relieving good news.
Ruth closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
She didn’t realise she had been holding her breath until she finally let out a long exhale.
MEANING 3: To end
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | American English |
Potential synonyms | To break up, to finish |
Separable? | No |
For our third application of the phrasal verb 'let out', we are turning our attention to a usage that is common in North American English and means 'to end'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
|
Firstly, we cannot use this application to mean 'to end' in every sense of the word; for instance we cannot use it to mean to mean that someone's life ends or that a TV show ends. Specifically, we use this application to talk about things that people go to or attend.
One of the most common times that you may come across this usage is in relation to school and classes. If a class 'lets out', it means that the class finishes and the students are free to leave. Similarly, school or college can also let out at the end of a term when the holidays begin.
In addition to this, we can also use 'let out' to refer to places where people gather in large groups to watch or attend something, e.g. church, business meetings, movies at the cinema or theatre shows. When the event or show ends and the people are therefore officially free to leave, we can say that it 'lets out'.
Grammatically, this is different to the other uses we have looked at so far as there is no direct object and it is therefore an inseparable usage.
We do not really use 'let out' in this way in British English and would use other verbs to say this instead e.g. 'break up' to talk about schools finishing for the holidays. In British English, it is possible to use 'let out' in a separable, transitive way with students and classrooms (see the first application), however the meaning here is slightly different as the focus is on the teacher allowing a student / students to leave (the teacher let the student out to go to the bathroom), whereas with this application the idea is that the event or show is finished and people are free to leave as they have no reason to stay.
My school lets out at 3:15pm every afternoon.
What time does your maths class let out today?
The students rushed outside as soon as school let out.
The movie let out later than we expected.
The traffic was terrible because the concert had just let out.
We waited outside the theatre until the show let out.
Crowds filled the streets after the football game let out.
MEANING 4: To tell a secret
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To blab |
Separable? | Yes |
The next meaning of 'let out' that we will explore is one for all of you who love to gossip and talk about what other people are doing (that includes me) and means 'to tell a secret'.
I imagine that most of you reading this have at one time or another been told secrets about other people that you have promised not to share with others. If at any time you have then told another person the secret information (and asked them not to tell anyone either) then you could be guilty of letting out the secret.
I would say that most of the time we use this application of 'let out' when the secret information is revealed accidentally or under pressure from other people. Moreover, it tends to carry the idea that once you have revealed the secret, everyone knows about it and it is therefore no longer hidden information.
Marie accidentally let out the surprise about her sister's birthday party.
Jonah let out the secret before he could stop himself.
I can’t believe you let out what we discussed in private.
Charlotte promised not to tell anyone, but she eventually let it out.
Mark was trying to keep it quiet, but the truth somehow got let out.
After hours of questioning, the prisoner finally let out the truth.
Heidi let out the news during a moment of frustration.
Paul didn’t mean to let it out, but he was too excited to stay silent.
Kathy let out that they were planning to move abroad next year.
Our CEO accidentally let out that the company was considering lay-offs.
BONUS: To let the cat out of the bag
Whilst we are on this fourth application of our chosenphrasal verb 'let out', I need to tell you about a lovely little idiom that we have for it: 'to let the cat out of the bag'.
If someone 'lets the cat out of the bag', they reveal some secret information by mistake, typically which is about something that is planned in the future, such as a birthday party or a surprise trip somewhere.
I was planning a secret trip to take my fiancée to Paris and propose to her but my brother let the cat out of the bag and told her.
John knows about his surprise party? Who let the cat out of the bag?
MEANING 5: To rent a property to someone
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | British English |
Potential synonyms | To let out |
Separable? | Yes |
If you remember from the Basics section earlier, I mentioned that one of the less common meanings of the verb 'to let' is to rent your house or your property to someone and this meaning is vital for our next application of 'let out', which is 'to rent a property to someone'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
|
You should note that this usage is primarily a British English usage. If you ever drive or walk around town or city in England, Scotland or Wales, you are likely to see some signs outside of buildings, which from a distance can look like 'toilet' but actually say 'to let'. These signs are placed on the exterior of properties to advise people that the building, or a part of the building e.g. room or apartment, is available for rent, or in other words it can be 'let out'.
It can be used to talk about both residential and commercial property e.g. offices and shops but not for other things like cars or bicycles.
When we use this, we can use it both actively and passively. When used in an active sense, the focus is on the owner of the property who makes it available for someone to live in it or use it, in exchange for money. For this, you need the additional preposition 'to' to specify the person who is renting the property.
The couple decided to let out their flat while they were working abroad.
Susan lets out two rooms in her house to university students.
The landlord let out the property to a young couple.
James plans to let out the cottage during the summer months.
They’ve been letting out their house in the Cotswolds since they moved to London.
Used in the passive voice, this meaning of 'let out' is used to indicate that someone is already renting a property or that it is no longer available.
I'm afraid that that this apartment has already been let out.
The property was let out within a week of being advertised.
Several offices are currently being let out in this city centre building.
The house was let out fully furnished.
MEANING 6: To make an item of clothing larger
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To enlarge |
Separable? | Yes |
We've now come to our sixth and final usage of the phrasal verb 'let out' and this one is a rarer usage that means 'to make an item of clothing larger'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
|
If you have ever owned an item of clothing that you cannot wear as it is too small for you, you may have considered making it larger so that it fits you. This process is known in English as 'letting out' and if you 'let out' a piece of clothing, you simply adjust it to make it bigger.
Typically, 'letting out' can only be done with those items of clothing that have extra fabric in them to enable the adjustment to happen.
Unless you are the person who is performing the letting out action, you would use this application in the passive voice, particularly the causative passive e.g. to have / get something let out.
This dress feels a bit tight; could you please let it out slightly?
The tailor let out the waist of his trousers after he put on weight.
Marlene had the sleeves let out to make the jacket more comfortable.
I’ll need to get this skirt let out before the wedding.
The suit was too tight, so Kevin asked the tailor to let it out.
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new about the phrasal verb 'let out'. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
Now it is YOUR turn. Can you think of a sentence yourself using 'let out'. Write it in the comments section below if you can, or alternatively any comments, suggestions or feedback that you may have....don't be shy!!!
Sign up on the form below if you want to receive new blog posts directly by email every week as soon as they are published.
Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media. See you next time! James 😊
THE END
The school lets out at 2:30, but after lunch, those kids who want to can attend out-of-school activities at school.