The Phrasal Verb 'Throw Out' Explained
- Phrasal Verbs Explained
- Aug 15
- 13 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'throw 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.
In this article, we will be looking at the English phrasal verb 'throw out' and all of the different ways that it is used by native speakers. I imagine that you may already be familiar with at least some of its uses, however did you know that it has at least 7 different meanings? Don't worry if you didn't as some of these are quite rare or specific and I will explain each of them in this post, so that you can see which ones may be useful for you in your future English conversations 😀 So, without further ado, let's make a start....
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THE BASICS
THROW OUT: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 7 |
Past tense forms | Threw out / Thrown out |
Separable? | Yes |
By way of an introduction to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'throw out', let's start with a short examination of the individual words 'throw' and 'out' and their standalone meanings.
'To throw' is a common irregular verb in English, which we use primarily to talk about the action of sending objects flying through the air using our arms and hands, like a ball or a javelin. It is also possible to use it with some less obvious nouns like 'party' and 'tantrum'. Aside from this, 'to throw' has some rarer meanings too, such as 'to intentionally lose a game' and 'to confuse someone'. Sometimes, the verb 'to throw' can often be used in contexts when actions are done quickly or carelessly and this nuance is often carried across into phrasal verbs, such as 'throw together'.
James threw the ball for his dog.
Somebody has thrown a rock through the window
The protestors threw bottles and stones at the police.
It's my 40th birthday next month, so I am throwing a big party to celebrate.
When my 4-year-old daughter does not get what she wants, she throws a tantrum.
It threw me when I saw my husband at home as he was supposed to be at work.
The particle 'out' is one that regularly appears in phrasal verbs and is often used to convey the idea of moving from an inside space to an exterior one or moving away from a specific point. Moreover, when 'out' features in phrasal verbs, it can add such ideas as exhaustion (run out), elimination (rule out) and trying (check out), among others.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'throw out'....
MEANING 1: Literal
CEFR Language Level | A1 - Beginner |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To chuck out, to toss out, to hurl out, to expel |
Separable? | Yes |
Let's start things off in a nice and easy way with the literal meaning of 'throw out', which (as you can probably guess), is the physical action of throwing an object from a internal physical space so that it is no longer inside it.
Typically, when using this literal application we require the noun either for the internal space from which the object is thrown or for the opening through which the object leaves the space. Most typically, you will come across this being used with 'window' and 'door'. You should note that the additional preposition 'of' can be used here to specify this noun, however native speakers often drop this. Both of these variations are considered correct and the decision to use 'of' or not here is purely stylistic.
Occasionally, you may hear someone threatening to throw something out of the window if it is not working properly. This is often a computer as we all know how frustrating it can be when they do not work properly!
Kirsty threw her old shoes out of her closet to make room for her new ones.
Daniel threw the ball out of the garage and into the yard.
The angry coach threw out the broken water bottle from the team bus.
In a fit of rage, the teacher threw the student's cellphone out of the classroom window.
I swear if this computer doesn't start working properly soon, I am going to throw it out of the window
MEANING 2: To get rid of something
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To discard, to get rid of, to throw away |
Separable? | Yes |
I think many of you will be familiar with this second application of 'throw out' as it is probably the most commonly used of all of its meanings and that is 'to get rid of something'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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First of all, to clarify when I say 'get rid of something', I mean to throw it in the garbage or discard it somewhere so that you no longer have possession of it. This is because you no longer want or need the item.
Another very common synonym phrasal verb for this particular application that you may know is 'throw away', with both of these being used equally often.
As you will see in the idiom that we will look at shortly, this application is separable, with the unwanted item being the direct object. This can either go between 'throw' and 'out' or after them, without any change in the meaning.
We decided to throw out all the old magazines that had been piling up in the bedroom.
Don’t throw that sweater out; it might come back into fashion some day.
Sandra threw her broken toaster out and bought a new one.
The landlord threw out the old, worn carpets during the renovation.
I’m going to throw out these old clothes unless any of you want to keep them?
Jimmy threw his old running shoes out after the soles wore through.
I threw a load of toys out last week that the children no longer play with.
My manager told me to throw out a pile of outdated paperwork from the office.
BONUS: Don't throw the baby out with the bath water
The curious sounding idiomatic expression 'don't throw the baby out with the bath water' is a very old saying that means to avoid accidentally getting rid of valuable items when you throw unwanted items out.
There is a myth surrounding this expression that it originated from times before plumbing when an entire family used to share bathwater, with the youngest of the house (the baby) going last when the water was dirtiest, meaning that the baby could no longer be seen. Sadly, this is not its true origin as it appears to have entered English from an old German proverb. It's a fascinating story nevertheless!
I know our current marketing strategy isn't working, but we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater; let's identify the parts that are working well and only change what isn't.
MEANING 3: To evict someone
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To evict, to turf out, to kick out, to eject |
Separable? | Yes |
The third meaning of 'throw out' is another common one that is perhaps more common in British English and means 'to evict or to remove someone from somewhere'.
First and foremost, you are most likely to encounter this application of 'throw out' in reference to when a person is evicted from the place in which they live. In other words, they are forced to leave their home and are forbidden from living there again.
Note that with this application, it is common to use it in both an active and a passive way, for example, a landlord may throw out the tenant living in his property if they do not pay rent or a teenager may be thrown out of their parents' home if they misbehave excessively.
Besides evicting people from their homes, we can use 'throw out' in this way, to talk about being removed from public places, organisations and educational institutions. Usually, when used in these situations, there is an element of force behind the action.
The landlord threw out his tenants after months of unpaid rent.
Emma threatened to throw her roommate out if she continued to leave the apartment in a mess.
The doorman threw the drunk customer out for causing a disturbance.
Security threw out the protestors who refused to leave the building.
The tennis club threw out one of its members who repeatedly broke the rules.
The party leader threw a politician out of the political party over his controversial remarks.
The university decided to throw out the student for academic dishonesty.
Spencer was thrown out of school for repeatedly skipping classes and fighting.
Here are some example sentences in the passive voice....
At the age of 16, Amy was thrown out of her parental home after she became pregnant.
The tenants were thrown out after failing to pay rent for three months.
Lisa was thrown out of the café for being verbally abusive to the staff.
The student was thrown out of school for cheating in his final exams.
Oh no, if my landlord finds out about this, I will be thrown out!
MEANING 4: To reject an idea or proposal
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To dismiss, to reject, to acquit, to drop |
Separable? | Yes |
The next usage of 'throw out' that we will cover in this post is one that you are likely to hear in more formal situations and environments and means 'to reject an idea or proposal'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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As the picture above would suggest, this application of 'throw out' is used a lot in courts of law (i.e. some of the most formal places one can be in). Typically, this is when someone presents a case to court that they want to be heard and the judge dismisses it because there is not evidence or information to support it. In these instances, we can say that the case was "thrown out" by the judge.
Moving away from the courtroom, it is also possible to hear this application of 'throw out' being used in business when an idea, application, proposal or suggestion is rejected as not being satisfactory or worth pursuing. This is normally by people in authority with the power to make such decisions.
The judge threw the case out due to insufficient proof.
The court threw out the appeal following a review of the evidence.
The committee have decided to throw out the amendment after a brief discussion.
Jack the referee threw out the player's protest, citing the rules of the game.
The organisers will throw out any entries that don't follow the contest rules.
The committee threw out his proposal because it lacked supporting evidence.
The motion was thrown out during the meeting.
After some consideration in the meeting, the idea was thrown out as impractical.
MEANING 5: To say or produce something without much thought
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To say, to utter, to blurt out, to state |
Separable? | Yes |
As I mentioned in the Basics section, sometimes when the verb 'to throw' is used in conjunction with a preposition or particle, it can be used to mean that something is done in a quick or unplanned way and in this fifth application of 'throw out', we have exactly the same idea as it means 'to say or produce something without much thought'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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If you have ever been in a brainstorming session at work where your boss asks you for ideas on a specific subject, it is likely that you threw some ideas out during this activity. That is because you probably had very little time to prepare and were just asked to come up with ideas in that moment without thinking about it too much. This is in fact a classic example of when this application of 'throw out' can be used because you are not only saying these things quickly, but also in large quantities.
In essence, we can use this application when we say things in a way that seems unplanned. Alternatively, if you are an expert in something, it may also be possible use 'throw out' when talking about citing facts and figures etc as you know the subject so well, you can just give the information automatically without spending time thinking about it.
Joanne threw out a few ideas during the meeting.
The speaker threw a question out to his audience to break the ice.
The coach threw out some last-minute instructions to the team.
The team leaders threw several suggestions out for the new project name.
The comedian threw out some one-liners that got the audience roaring with laughter.
He threw out the question to see how people would react.
I’ll throw a few options out and see what everyone thinks.
The scientist threw out some alarming statistics to support his argument.
MEANING 6: To produce energy
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To emit, to give out, to put out, to give off |
Separable? | Yes |
In the previous section, we covered how 'throw out' can be used to mean to produce words and information from our brains and for this next meaning we are going to stay with the theme of production, however this time the meaning is 'to produce energy'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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As you can see from the list of commonly used nouns above, we use this one for nouns for things that can be generated by fire or sources of energy that radiate them so that they are detectable with our senses.
This may be a fire that throws out a lot of heat or smoke, a lamp that throws out a lot of light or a log burner that throws out warmth. The main idea here is that the energy is expelled from the source into the air so that we notice it. Typically, we would use it when the amount of energy is remarkable in some way, i.e. very high or very low.
For those of you who are familiar with the phrasal verb 'give out', 'throw out' is actually a synonym of this here, however it is not used as commonly as 'give out'.
The fire threw out a steady warmth all evening, making the room nice and cosy.
The old lantern threw out a faint, flickering light but it was enough to see with.
The sun throws out intense rays that heat the desert sand on a daily basis.
Our campfire threw out sparks as the logs cracked and split.
My electric heater threw more heat out than I expected.
I hope that Kate's will be able to throw a strong beam out to enable us to see the tunnel ahead.
This fire isn't throwing much heat out; do you have any more logs?
A bright glow was thrown out by the volcano’s molten lava.
MEANING 7: To make something be wrong
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To throw off |
Separable? | Yes |
The seventh and penultimate meaning that of 'throw out' that we will cover in this post is one that will be relevant for those among you who have to do calculations as it means 'to make something be wrong'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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I was quite a good student at school and I did quite well in most subjects but one that often posed difficulties for me was maths. I still sometimes struggle with it today and this is often made clear when I have to do calculations and I make mistakes. Generally, the reason that my sums are wrong is that something has thrown the calculation out or in other words, something has made the total incorrect. This might be me because I added an extra zero to a figure or I transposed two figures; both of which lead to an incorrect total.
In addition to sums and calculations, we can use 'throw out' in this way to describe when we get incorrect results or readings for things, which is typically caused by an error somewhere along the process.
One other time that I hear this application in use is with regards to plans. If you have plans to do something and then something else occurs that means you have to change or adapt the plans, we can say that it "throws out our plans".
A small error in the formula can throw out the entire calculation.
The incorrect data has thrown out the whole report and we have to run it again.
One wrong measurement will throw out the whole experiment, so please be extremely careful.
Using the wrong units could throw out the results.
The faulty sensor was throwing out all the temperature readings.
The sudden schedule change threw out all our travel plans and we had to rebook our flights.
MEANING 8: To eliminate a player by throwing
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Everywhere - sports English |
Potential synonyms | To get out, to bowl out |
Separable? | Yes |
Our eighth and final meaning of 'throw out' is a much rarer one that is used specifically in bat and ball sports such as cricket and baseball and means to eliminate another player from the game by throwing.
To clarify this, in certain games it is possible to throw a ball either to land in a certain place or to another member of your team, which can then result in the player who hit the ball being eliminated from the game. They can no longer play in the game and are therefore out.
In baseball, this is usually when a fielding player throws the ball to another team member who is standing on one of the bases and who can then touch the ball onto the base, meaning that the batsman is then out of the game.
In cricket, it refers to when the ball is thrown by a fielder and hits the stumps, ending the game for the batsman who is in play at that time.
The catcher threw out the runner trying to steal second base.
The outfielder threw the runner out at home to save the game.
The bowler tried to throw the batter out at first with a perfect throw.
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 'throw 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 'throw 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
Really engaging as always