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Hi evryone.
This is the first time I'm posting a question. Could someone please help me with the following sentence:
"It also offends against the idea that we work in in a meritocracy, where talent will out, eventually. In true life, of course, talent does not always out."
I don't get the meaning of the word 'out' in these sentences. I've been going through the dictionary but just can't match an explanation to it.
Thanks in advanced for your help.
"Out" is being used here as a verb, meaning be made known; be disclosed or revealed. I've most often heard it used in the sentence "the truth will out".
(The second sentence, "In true life, of course, talent does not always out", appears to be incorrect. I'm not sure that you can use the verb "do" as an auxilliary with "out".)
By the way, I recommend this dictionary site:
OneLook Dictionary Search
It searches for definitions in several online dictionaries.
Thanks for your quick reponse and explanation.
I appreciate it.
There's another verbal usage of out, but transitive. It means 'to reveal something that the object wanted to keep secret'. I first heard it used in the '70s, of homosexuals. But it can be used now in any non-sexual context as well:
He wanted to keep the fact that he smoked a secret from his parents, but his school discovered and outed him.
b
PS -
This isn't relevant to your original question. I just thought I'd stretch your vocabulary a bit. ;-)