An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'fall out', with lots of examples in context
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Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs!
How much do you know about the phrasal verb 'fall out'? Do you know all of the meanings that it has? For example, what it means when one person falls out with another or what happens if a soldier falls out? Don't worry if you don't as in this blog article, I will explain the different meanings of this useful phrasal verb and give you lots of examples to help you learn and use it, so that you can impress your English-speaking friends and colleagues. So, without further ado, let's make a start.
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FALL OUT: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 4 |
Past tense forms | Fell out / Fallen out |
Separable? | No |
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THE BASICS
Before we start with the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall out', it is a good idea to look at the words 'fall' and 'out' and what they mean individually.
Our main verb in this article is 'to fall', which is a common English irregular verb that is most frequently used to describe the action of moving in a downwards direction, usually in way that is fast, uncontrolled and unintentional. Alternatively, 'to fall' can also be used to describe a decrease of some sort as well as when somebody or something unintentionally goes down to the ground. 'To fall' is commonly used in collocation with particles such as 'over', 'off' and 'down', which all give more information to describe the nature of the 'falling' action.
The pilot lost control of the airplane and it started falling towards the ground.
Snow is likely to fall here in December and January.
The old lady almost fell at the bus stop but luckily a young man was there to stop her.
The rate of Covid infection is expected to fall in Spring and Summer.
Next, we have the prepositional particle 'out', which possesses a large variety of uses and applications in English. It is perhaps most commonly used as the opposite of 'in' and therefore it typically refers to being on the outside of something or to moving away from the inside of something.
When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'out' often adds this idea of movement away from something or somewhere, however it can additionally add other ideas, such as revelation, distribution, appearance and removal.
Now that we have looked at the basics, let's move on to the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'fall out'...
MEANING 1: To fall from an internal space
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CEFR Language Level | A2 - Elementary |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synoyms | To spill out, to tumble out, to topple out, to drop out |
Separable? | No |
We are going to start things off in a nice and easy way with the literal meaning of the phrasal verb 'fall out', which is 'to fall from an internal space'.
As I stated in the previous section, the particle 'out' functions as the natural opposite of 'in', so we can use this first application to refer to anybody or anything that is in an internal space and then quite literally falls from that space, meaning that they are no longer inside it. As the verb in question is 'to fall', then the falling action here is usually unintentional.
When used with people, this application of 'fall out' tends to be used in reference to enclosed spaces that people can be physically inside, such as cars or buildings*. You should also note that in English we sometimes use 'in' for places that are not specifically completely enclosed spaces, such as a tree (if you climb up into the branches) or a bathtub and here you would also need to use 'out' as the natural opposite of this.
*Typically, we do not not say that someone falls out of a building, but rather a window or door.
John was so drunk that he fell out of the taxi when it stopped outside his house.
The little boy was playing too close to the window and fell out of it but luckily it was on the ground floor, so he was not hurt.
Laura fell out of a tree and broke her arm.
When used with items and objects, this application of 'fall out' tends to be in relation to things that are in a container of some sort and falls or spills from the interior of that. These are typically things like bags, boxes, cupboards and pockets.
My house key fell out of my pocket whilst I was jogging.
The shopping bag split and all of the shopping fell out all over the pavement.
When Lucy opened the fridge, a bottle of water fell out and smashed on the kitchen floor.
Lastly, I am sure that many of you are familiar with the expression of 'falling in love with someone', meaning to start to develop feelings of love for another person. Well, we can also use 'to fall out of love with someone' to describe the exact opposite of this. Furthermore, it can also be used figuratively when you stop having a great enjoyment of something.
Simon realised he had fallen out of love with his wife after several years of marriage.
Margaret fell out of love with teaching and quit her job at the school.
MEANING 2: To detach and drop from something
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CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To drop out, to come out, to detach, to disconnect |
Separable? | No |
The second meaning of 'fall out' is really just a continuation of the first one that we have just looked at and it is 'to detach and drop from something'.
Nouns commonly used with:
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For this meaning, we are primarily focussed on things that are attached or connected to something and then become loose and eventually become detached or 'fall off'. Typically, we use this with nouns such as hair and teeth when referring to people and the reason that we use 'out' here instead of 'off' is that for all of these to be attached to you, a part of them has to be inside you rather than just 'on' you, in which case we would need 'off'. Interestingly, for a body part such as a finger, toe, ear or nose, we would use 'fall off' rather than 'fall out'...English can be quite strange sometimes!
When Rosalind was having cancer treatment, all of her hair fell out.
One of the boxer's teeth fell out after a match.
You had better remove your earrings before you go for a run or else they will fall out.
Of course, we normally use this application of 'fall out' to describe the moment in which the hair or teeth detach and drop, however you should also know that we can also use it when someone lost them in the past, especially when they are still missing.
All his teeth fell out when he was a young man and he couldn't afford to pay for dentures.
Moving away from body parts, we can also use 'fall out' for parts of items and objects that become detached from the main item. This is perhaps most commonly heard with pages in books, but could equally be used with shoelaces in shoes, an internal car part like an engine or a cable from a device.
The book was so old and well used that when I picked it up, half of the pages fell out and scattered across the desk.
One of the screws has fallen out of my router and now it won't stand up properly.
I think that the golden rule here is that if we say in English that something is 'in' something else, then we use 'fall out' when it becomes detached. If we use the particle 'on', then the phrasal verb 'fall off' would be more suitable.
MEANING 3: To argue with someone and end a friendship
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CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To argue, to argue, to row, to fight, to disagree, to break up, to squabble |
Separable? | No |
For the third meaning of 'fall out', we are moving away from the idea of physically falling as this one is 'to argue with someone and end a friendship'.
For this particular usage, we require the additional preposition 'with', when we want to specify the person with whom we have argued, giving us the construction 'to fall out with someone'. When we want to specify the reason for the argument, we can use the additional prepositions 'over' or 'about'.
This informal application of 'fall out' is used when two people have a disagreement or quarrel and usually then end their friendship, which can either be on a temporary or a permanent basis. I would say that this is not normally used with small or petty arguments as it needs to be bad enough for the two people to not want to see one another again (or at least for a period of time). Note that we do not typically use this particular application when talking about a romantic couple, as the phrasal verb 'break up' is more likely to be used here, although you may still hear it in this way from time to time.
Helen isn't coming with us tonight as we've fallen out.
Come on, let's not fall out over this! It's not worth falling out over.
Dave and Martin have fallen out over some money that Dave owes.
What have they fallen out about this time?
One thing to note from a grammatical perspective is that we do not use this particular application of 'fall out' in continuous ('ing) tenses.
Nevertheless, there is an expression that exists, which is particularly common in American English and does use the continuous form and that is 'to have a falling out'. If you have a falling out with someone, it means exactly the same thing and is purely just another way of saying it.
Helen isn't coming with us tonight as we've had a falling out.
Come on! Let's not have a falling out over this.
IDIOM ALERT! The idiom 'to fall out of favour with somebody' is a fairly common expression that means to stop being liked, popular or highly regarded, either by one person, several people or society as a whole. For example, you may use it in a situation when a person stops treating you well or nicely or when something stops being popular in the public realm. Just a reminder that the 'o' in favour is dropped in American English (to fall out of favor).
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MEANING 4: To leave a military formation
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CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To move out, to stand at ease |
Separable? | No |
The fourth and final meaning of the phrasal verb 'fall out' that we will cover in this post is 'to leave a military formation'.
As you can guess, this one is a much rarer usage as it is specific to the armed forces and the military. Broadly speaking, there are two different scenarios in which it is used, both of which are to do with military formations....
The first scenario is when soldiers or military personnel leave their barracks (the place where they sleep) in order to participate in a military formation or procession. I, personally, am very familiar with this particular usage, although I have never been in the armed forces!
The second scenario is the one that I am familiar with however and that is when soldiers and military personnel leave their assigned places in a military formation, which is typically a line of soldiers. If a soldier moves from their position, essentially breaking the uniformity of the line, it can be said that he or she has fallen out of line. Additionally, once the parade or formation is officially over, the soldiers can officially fall out, meaning that they can all leave their official positions.
The tired soldier accidentally fell out of line during the King's parade and was severely reprimanded by his seniors.
Sergeant Smith ordered his troops to fall out and return to their barracks.
BONUS: 'FALLOUT' AS A NOUN
Before I finish this post, I want to make you aware of the noun 'fallout' and what it means as it actually has a couple of different meanings that are different to those of the phrasal verb.
Firstly, the noun 'fallout' can be used for the negative results or consequences of a situation or event. It is often followed by the preposition 'from' and can often be heard in the news when speaking about political or financial issues.
We were not prepared for the fallout from the financial crisis in 2008 and have been trying to improve it ever since.
The political fallout from this event is going to be huge!
Secondly, the noun 'fallout' can be used in a more specific way to describe the after effects of a nuclear explosion, in particular with reference to the radioactive material that remains in the atmosphere afterwards. Let's hope we never have to use this one apart from when talking about books, tv shows and movies!
The nuclear fallout is expected to be severe and far reaching and people are strongly advised to move well away from the region.
The fallout has been causing health problems for those people living in the wider area for many years.
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