feel out

phrasal verb

felt out; feeling out; feels out

: to talk to or question (someone) in an indirect way in order to find out if something one wants to do or get will be possible

He tried to feel us out to see if we'd loan him more money.

Examples of feel out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Still, she’s reportedly felt out of the loop with Musk’s moves, and Trump’s prior chiefs of staff have struggled to stay employed. —Joe Walsh, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025

So most of his work in the offseason and in the early going here is feeling out what’s the best delivery for him. —Andrew Baggarly, The Athletic, 24 Feb. 2025

Such warrior-poet anti-charisma feels out of place in a dopey movie that proves more interested in CGI monsters than its hero’s mottled humanity (Levi’s constant allusions to T.S. —David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 13 Feb. 2025

While the tariffs on our bordering neighbors have been paused, local business owners don’t feel out of the woods yet. —Mars King, Twin Cities, 9 Feb. 2025

Rhymes for feel out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout