blackout

plural blackouts · alternative black-out

1. countableuncountableA temporary loss of consciousness.

   Synonyms: blankout, faint, syncope

2. countableuncountableA temporary loss of memory.

   1 more example

   “I mean, what is she even talking about? Got her pregnant at the Halloween party? What does that mean? I don't even remember that party. I was wasted.” “Yeah, me too. I browned out that evening.” “"browned out"? What's "browned out"?” “Oh, it's when you drink so much that everything goes brown. It's not as severe as a blackout, 'cause I remember bits and pieces. I like to call it "browning out."”

   2010 October 28, Charlie Day & Rob McElhenney, “Who Got Dee Pregnant?” (2:13 from the start), in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, season 6, episode 7

   Synonyms: blankout

3. countableuncountableA large-scale power failure, and resulting loss of electricity to consumers.

   There have been several examples of space weather affecting power grids in the last few decades, notably blackouts caused by GICs [geomagnetically induced currents] in Canada in 1989 and Sweden in 2003.

   2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30

   1 more example

   The repairs at the Koeberg Power Station in the Western Cape were on schedule for completion in the third week of May. This follows huge blackouts related to the problems at the power supplier since November.

   2006 May 13, Weekend Argus, page 5

   Synonyms: power cut, outage

4. countableuncountableAn instance of censorship, especially a temporary one.

   media blackout

   2 more examples

   According to a press release issued by the clinic staff, a blackout by the local press had kept the public uninformed about the clinic's harassment.

   1983 December 17, “Defending The Right To Choose”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 22, page 2

   The protests have alarmed authorities, and on Thursday night, they shut off internet and mobile access in the country, cutting the Iranian people off from the rest of the world. Rights groups have accused the government of exploiting the media blackout to carry out a brutal crackdown against protesters.

   2026 January 13, Deepa Parent, William Christou, “Hundreds of gunshot eye injuries found in one Iranian hospital amid brutal crackdown on protests”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2026

5. InternetcountableuncountableAn intentional outage of a website or other online service, typically as a form of protest.

   the 2012 English Wikipedia blackout

   1 more example

   A group of Redditors, many of whom are moderators, organized a temporary boycott, with participating subreddits going private or restricted for 48 hours starting on Monday. A Twitch stream tracking the blackout claimed that nearly 8,500 subreddits, some with tens of millions of subscribers, had gone dark by Tuesday afternoon.

   2023 June 14, Sara Morrison, “The ongoing Reddit Blackout, explained”, in Vox, archived from the original on 30 Mar 2024

6. countablehistoricaluncountableThe mandatory blocking of all light emanating from buildings, as well as outdoor and street lighting as a measure against aerial bombing or naval attack, as imposed during, e.g., World War II.

   During the "blackout", many real cars and lorries had their front wings painted white, in order to avoid accidents.

   1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 88

   1 more example

   In co-operation with the Government departments, the British railway companies prepared their stations, offices, docks, hotels, trains, and other premises for the necessary blackout of lighting that it was realised would be required in a state of emergency, and in the case of the experimental voluntary blackouts which took place in July and August the railway companies concerned co-operated in every way possible.

   1939 November, Charles E. Lee, “Railways and the War — I”, in Railway Magazine, page 317

7. attributivecountableuncountableThe blocking out of as much light as possible.

   blackout blinds; blackout curtains

8. countablerareslanguncountablecriminologyA mass murder committed, usually in an urban area, to eliminate potential witnesses of a previous crime.

present singular third person blackouts · participle present blackouting · participle past blackouted · past blackouted · alternative black-out

1. alternativenonstandardAlternative form of black out.

   Scouts assisted Mabel Smythe Building officials in blackouting windows.

   1941, Annual Report of the Boy Scouts of America: Letter from the Chief Scout Executive Transmitting the Annual Report of the Boy Scouts of America ... as Required by Federal Charter, Boy Scouts of America, page 37

   4 more examples

   As blades in night's chest buried, Voraciously my eyes strike, the silent Warsaw evening, my city blackouted throughout...

   2013, Dr Pauline Fairclough, Twentieth-Century Music and Politics: Essays in Memory of Neil Edmunds, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., →ISBN

   We had some inconvenience, such as food and petrol rationing, blackouting of homes and work places.

   2015, Helen Brown, Reflections: Australian Stories from My Father's Past, →ISBN

   'After recovering I 'blackouted' so much that I did not wake up until 10,000 ft below.' Zumbach's account, apart from the detailed description of his dogfight, also highlights the subject of the Polish pilots communicating in the air ...

   2018, Peter Sikora, The Polish 'Few': Polish Airmen in the Battle of Britain, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN

   Sarla started weeping and rushed to pull Jagan up. Jagan had banged his head into a wall and blackouted for a few moments. As his vision returned, he saw all his writings that he had lovingly been collecting […]

   2021, Jitendra Dixit, Bombay 3, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN