as in to exclude
to prevent the participation, consideration, or inclusion of
another loss would rule them out of the tournament
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Recent Examples of rule out
The president, his negotiators, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have preemptively ruled out any proposal from Iran that would allow the country to continue its pursuit of nuclear energy that can be used for military purposes.
—
Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 1 May 2026
The play was challenged and, after review, Kurtz was ruled out to end the fourth inning.
—ABC News, 30 Apr. 2026
Veteran point guard Shey Peddy was ruled out with a lower left leg injury, and rookie point guard Harmoni Turner was a late scratch due to illness, which forced Meziane to rework his lineups last minute.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 30 Apr. 2026
He was ultimately ruled out after going through pregame warmups before the Lakers’ Game 3 overtime victory against the Houston Rockets and again before their Game 4 loss on Sunday night, downgraded from questionable, still nursing his left oblique strain.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rule out
Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 1 May 2026
The play was challenged and, after review, Kurtz was ruled out to end the fourth inning.
—ABC News, 30 Apr. 2026
Veteran point guard Shey Peddy was ruled out with a lower left leg injury, and rookie point guard Harmoni Turner was a late scratch due to illness, which forced Meziane to rework his lineups last minute.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 30 Apr. 2026
He was ultimately ruled out after going through pregame warmups before the Lakers’ Game 3 overtime victory against the Houston Rockets and again before their Game 4 loss on Sunday night, downgraded from questionable, still nursing his left oblique strain.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rule out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rule out
Verb
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First-quarter earnings per share excluding one-time items and revenue topped Wall Street analysts’ highest estimates, as did raised full-year EPS ex-items guidance.—
Davis Giangiulio,Lisa Kailai Han,
CNBC,
1 May 2026
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Why not try and capture an image of the moon during each major phase (excluding the new moon) as the line separating night from day sweeps across the lunar surface throwing ancient craters, ravines and mountain ranges into relief.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
1 May 2026
Verb
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The Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of park neighbors suing the city to try to block the project have also argued that alcohol should be banned at the facility.—
Gayla Cawley,
Boston Herald,
26 Apr. 2026
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Racing’s indignation over that, as well as that of anger in the general public, prompted the formation by Congress of a bill that would ban the slaughter of horses in the United States.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Kompany is suspended, meaning he's barred from the dressing room and the touchline at Parc des Princes.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
28 Apr. 2026
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Muslim worshippers, barred from praying at the Al-Aqsa mosque under wartime restrictions, had gathered outside the walls of the Old City for prayers.—
Oren Liebermann,
CNN Money,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Republicans in some states cannot just eliminate all those districts without spreading enough Democratic voters around to jeopardize their own incumbents.—
Nicholas Riccardi,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
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Each robot undergoes over 80 functional tests, including stress and burn-in exercises such as squats and jogging, to eliminate early failures.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Republican Steve Hilton leads recent polls while Democrats remain split across multiple candidates, creating fears the party could be shut out of the general election.—
Seema Mehta,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Apr. 2026
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They've been shut out in six games already, or 20% of the time.—
David Troy OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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This review is scheduled to be complete next year and has the potential to freeze out full-size pickups designed with no consideration for things like European pedestrian safety.—
Jonathan M. Gitlin,
ArsTechnica,
8 Apr. 2026
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Speaking of options, is there anything Democrats could do if they’re frozen out of the runoff?—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Mercury News,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Section Two of the 1965 Voting Rights Act aimed to prevent mapmakers from weakening the voting power of racial minorities by either packing them into one district or spreading them out across too many districts to have an impact.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
30 Apr. 2026
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British monarchs are subject to rules and norms meant to prevent them from taking overtly political stands.—
Emma Caughlan,
NBC news,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The bill’s sponsors don’t seek to prohibit access to the emerging technology.—
Nick Coltrain,
Denver Post,
26 Apr. 2026
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But if the estate is legally prohibited from depicting basically the entire second half of Jackson’s life, what would a second movie even be about?—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rule out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rule%20out. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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