The Phrasal Verb 'Sell Out' Explained
- 35 minutes ago
- 9 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'sell 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 phrasal verb 'sell out', which you may be familiar with if you are a keen shopper or you like going to concerts or events. This moderately common phrasal verb can be used to talk about a range of different subjects including buying things and breaking someone's trust. Across it's different meanings however there is a core idea of exchanging one thing for another and for each meaning I will give you lots of example sentences to show you how to use them. So, let's make a start and see what the phrasal verb 'sell out' is all about....
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
SELL OUT: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 4 |
Past tense forms | Sold out / Sold out |
Separable? | Sometimes |
The phrasal verb 'sell out' is a combination of the verb 'to sell' and the prepositional particle 'out' and before we look at the phrasal verbs meanings, let's first take a brief look at what these two component words mean on their own....
Sell - 'To sell' is a common verb in English meaning to provide someone with a product or service in exchange for money or financial gain. This is by far its most common meaning, however it can also be used to mean 'to convince someone that something is a good idea'. 'To sell' is an irregular verb, with 'sold' being both of its past tense forms.
James wants to sell his car.
We are selling our house as we want to buy a bigger one.
Do you sell candles?
Jenny sold over 100 cakes at the village show.
I tried to sell the idea of joining the gym to my parents.
Out - 'Out' is one of the most common and diverse particles that we find in English phrasal verbs. It's core meanings are 'movement from an internal space to an external one' and 'being situated in an external space' and it therefore functions as the natural opposite of 'in'. These core ideas can be found in more literal phrasal verb meanings (go out, walk out), however many other ideas can also be communicated by 'out' in phrasal verbs. These include becoming known (find out), distribution (spread out), clarification (work out), exhaustion (wear out) and elimination (rule out). This final idea of elimination (or removal) that we get from 'out' is one that is most relesant for the phrasal verb 'sell out'.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of 'sell out'....
MEANING 1: To sell all of something
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To run out |
Separable? | No |
Our first meaning of the phrasal verb 'sell out' is the most common one and the one that you are most likely to know and means 'to sell all of something'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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I think that many of you will been in that annoying situation where you go to a shop to buy something that you need and are immediately disappointed to learn that the item that you want is not available because the shop has already sold all of its stock 😡 When this happens, we can say that item has "sold out".
To clarify, we use this application of 'sold out' when all of the available items or stock of something have been sold and there are no more left for other people to buy. The two main areas in which you find this application being used are for products in shops and stores (both physical and online) and tickets for events that people can attend.
We can use this to talk in a general sense about when products that typically sell out....
Limited-edition trainers usually sell out within minutes.
Their summer jackets always sell out before August.
Cheap flights to Spain tend to sell out fast.
The bakery’s cinnamon rolls sell out by noon.
The seats near the stage usually sell out very quickly.
In a more specific sense, it is also common for sellers and retailers to say that something is "selling out quickly" when they are selling a lot of something and it is expected that soon there will be no more of it available. This can often be employed as a sales trick to encourage more people to buy a product....
The concert tickets are selling out quickly.
These jackets are selling out quickly online, so get your orders in soon so that you do not miss out!
Our summer courses are selling out quickly this year.
The festival is selling out quickly after yesterday’s announcement.
Furthermore, we often see this application of 'sell out' being used to talk about a specific product that is no longer available. For this, we often express this using the present perfect tense (has/have sold out) or the simple past (sold out). This is also very common to see in reference to tickets popular shows, concerts, festivals and sporting events.
The concert sold out in just twenty minutes.
All the tickets sold out before midday.
The bakery usually sells out by lunchtime.
Their new trainers sold out on the first day.
The event has already sold out.
The smaller sizes have sold out first again.
The festival has sold out for the third year in a row.
Those limited-edition trainers have completely sold out.
The hotel rooms have sold out this weekend due to the football match.
On a grammatical note, although this application is technically separate, native speakers tend not to use it in a separable way. Instead, we use the additional preposition 'of' after 'sell out' to indicate the depleted item.
We have sold out of toilet rolls.
All of the shops in the city had sold out of fireworks before midday.
MEANING 2: To sell a business
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere - Business English |
Potential synonyms | To sell up, to sell off, to divest |
Separable? | Yes |
Let's move to the world of business English for our second application of the phrasal verb 'sell out', which means 'to sell a business'.
Nouns commonly used with this application...
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For this application, we are staying with the key idea of selling but this time we are looking at it from the perspective of selling assets rather than products. Typically, when a business owner sells out, they decide to sell the business as they need money. This may be the entire business or just a part of it.
In rarer cases, 'sell out' could also be used on a more personal level to describe when someone sells everything that they own, again with the idea of raising much needed money.
After building the company for twenty years, Barbara finally sold out and retired.
The company's founders sold out to a larger technology firm last year.
John sold out his share of the business and moved abroad.
They decided to sell out before the market became more competitive.
The brothers sold out to an international corporation.
Mrs Smith sold out her stake in the company for several million pounds.
A lot of small shop owners eventually sell out to bigger chains.
After deciding to move abroad, the family sold out and started a new life in Thailand.
Gavin sold out completely, packed his bags, and bought a boat to sail around the world.
MEANING 3: To abandon your principles
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To abandon (your principles) |
Separable? | No |
The third application of the phrasal verb 'sell out' is one that is not directly about selling something but it is one that is often influenced by money and means 'to abandon your principles'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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I am sure that most of you reading this will have beliefs and principles in life that you follow, and that are important to you. For example, some of you may be vegetarian, some of you may not support big global corporations in favour of small businesses and some of you might hold strong political views about specific issues. Whatever your principles are, if someone offered you a large sum of money to do something that was against them, would you do it? In this scenario, if you said "yes", you would be 'selling out'.
Typically, 'selling out' happens when people who have traditionally held views or values about something, abandon these in exchange for money, fame or some kind of advantage. Moreover, it can be used for individuals, groups of people and businesses.
Consequently, this meaning of 'sell out' is primarily used in a negative way as it is used to express disapproval and criticism of the person or group's decision.
Many fans thought the band had sold out after signing with a major record label.
Pete used to criticise big corporations, but then he joined one himself; some of his friends say that he sold out.
The actress was accused of selling out when she started appearing in gambling advertisements.
They promised to protect the environment, but voters feel the party sold out once they entered government.
The singer refused to sell out just to become more popular.
The magazine used to publish serious journalism, but recently it has completely sold out.
Some artists never recover their reputation after selling out commercially.
Lionel insists he hasn’t sold out; he just wants to reach a wider audience.
Critics claim the company sold out by putting profit before quality.
MEANING 4: To betray someone for personal gain
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To betray, to backstab |
Separable? | Yes |
Our fourth and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'sell out' is really a continuation of the previous one and means 'to betray someone for personal gain'.
Firstly, if you are not sure about the meaning of the verb 'to betray', it means to break someone's trust by being disloyal to them or doing something that could hurt or offend them like breaking a promise that you made to them etc.
Therefore, if you sell someone out, it means that you do something for personal gain or advantage but you hurt or disappoint someone who trusts you in the process. This may be for a number of reasons like obtaining money or status or avoiding punishment.
As we are talking about trust here and so we typically use it for people with whom you have a close and trusting relationship such as a family member or good friend. Moreover, this can also be used for colleagues / co-workers.
Grammatically speaking, we typically always use this in a separable way, with the person who is hurt or disappointed going between 'sell' and 'out'.
Barnaby sold his friends out to the police to avoid going to prison himself.
Sue would never sell out a colleague just to get a promotion.
One of the gang members sold the others out in exchange for a lighter sentence.
I trusted Ben completely, but he sold me out for money.
Lucy felt betrayed after her business partner sold her out.
Nick sold out his teammates to save his own reputation.
Don’t worry; I’m not going to sell you out.
The politician was accused of selling out his supporters for political gain.
BONUS: The noun 'sell-out'
As with many phrasal verbs, 'sell out' has also given rise to a noun 'sell-out', which can be used to describe two of the ideas discussed in the different applications that we have just explored...
Firstly, if an event, show or product sells out and it is no longer available for purchase, we can say that it is a 'sell-out'....
The concert was a complete sell-out within just a few hours.
Their latest basketball shoe release turned into a nationwide sell-out.
Secondly, if a person abandons their principles and values for success and money, he or she can be called a 'sell-out'....
Fans called the singer a sell-out after she changed her style.
Mickey used to oppose big business, but now he works for a huge corporation; what a sell-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 'sell 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 'sell 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!!!
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THE END
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