as in to lose
to undergo defeat
quite embarrassingly, the top-seeded player bowed out in the first round of competition
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Examples of bow out in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The big picture: In a July AJC poll conducted before Biden bowed out, Trump led Harris by a wider margin of 51% to 46% in a hypothetical matchup.
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Kristal Dixon, Axios, 18 Sep. 2024
In rapid fashion after the June 27 debate between Trump and Biden, the incumbent bowed out of the race after his disastrous performance, Trump survived an assassination attempt and bothsides chose their running mates.
—Josh Boak, Chicago Tribune, 11 Sep. 2024
Newsom was a prominent surrogate for Biden, stumping for him around the country and defending him after his poor debate performance in June that ultimately led the incumbent to bow out of his reelection campaign.
—Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2024
Still, the next episode starts with the other moms questioning if the injury was real — or a convenient excuse to bow out of the group number — and Glo’s 24-year-old daughter and assistant Kaeli Ware pointedly tells Audrey to push through it.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bow out 
Kristal Dixon, Axios, 18 Sep. 2024
In rapid fashion after the June 27 debate between Trump and Biden, the incumbent bowed out of the race after his disastrous performance, Trump survived an assassination attempt and bothsides chose their running mates.
—Josh Boak, Chicago Tribune, 11 Sep. 2024
Newsom was a prominent surrogate for Biden, stumping for him around the country and defending him after his poor debate performance in June that ultimately led the incumbent to bow out of his reelection campaign.
—Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2024
Still, the next episode starts with the other moms questioning if the injury was real — or a convenient excuse to bow out of the group number — and Glo’s 24-year-old daughter and assistant Kaeli Ware pointedly tells Audrey to push through it.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bow out
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bow out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Bow out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bow%20out. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
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