stick out

verb

stuck out; sticking out; sticks out

intransitive verb

1

a

: to jut out : project

b

: to be prominent or conspicuous

2

: to be persistent (as in a demand or an opinion)

transitive verb

: endure, last entry 1

—often used with it

stuck it out to the end

Synonyms

• bag
• balloon
• beetle
• belly
• billow
• bulge
• bunch
• jut
• overhang
• poke
• pooch [chiefly dialect]
• pouch
• pout
• project
• protrude
• stand out
• start
• swell

Examples of stick out in a Sentence

no feet sticking out in the aisles, please

managed to stick out the whole race despite her bad knee

Recent Examples on the Web

Antipsychotics can cause weight gain, drowsiness, metabolic syndrome, which can increase risk of heart attack or stroke, or involuntary movements such as blinking or sticking out your tongue. —Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY, 27 Sep. 2024

Conversely, sticking out the winter can also be dangerous, in some cases more so than migrating. —Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 26 Sep. 2024

In 2022, for instance, fossil hunter Stephen Kruse found a mosasaur spine, skull and lower jawbones sticking out of a dry creek bed near the North Sulphur River—the same waterway where the G. alabamaensis jaw fragments were recently discovered. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Sep. 2024

Researchers first uncovered the site in 1996 when an amateur archaeologist spotted a bone sticking out of a bank of the Tollense River. —Ashley Strickland, CNN, 23 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1640, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Kids Definition

stick out

verb

1

a

: to extend out : project

b

: to be noticeable

you will certainly stick out with that red hat and coat

2

: to put up with : endure

stuck it out to the bitter end