out of place

Canada, US, UK/ˌaʊ̯t əv ˈpleɪ̯s/Australia/ˌæɔ̯t əv ˈplæɪ̯s/New Zealand/ˌæʊ̯t əv ˈplæɪ̯s/Scotland/ˌʌʊ̯t əv ˈples/

prepositional phrase

Not in the proper arrangement or situation.

“Near-synonym: atopic”

Similar
dislocateddystopicectopicheterotopicmalpositionedmisplacedout of keeping withunseemly
Opposite
in keeping within placeappropriateseemly
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

prepositional phrase(idiomatic)
  1. idiomaticNot in the proper arrangement or situation.

    No wonder I couldn’t find it—it was out of place.

    5 more examples

    She came in out of the storm with not a hair out of place.

    Amongst all those horsey people I felt quite out of place.

    A Servant out of Place

    1802, The Spirit of the Public Journals, volume 5, James Ridgway, page v

    A garden smoothly laid with turf, divided by thick hedges, with raised beds of bright flowers, such as we keep within walls in England, would have been out of place upon the side of this bare hill.

    1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter VII, in The Voyage Out, London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC, page 105

    Watch me dance, dance the night away (uh-huh) I'll still keep the party runnin', not one hair out of place

    2023 May 25, Dua Lipa, Caroline Ailin, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, “Dance the Night”, in Barbie the Album, performed by Dua Lipa

    Synonyms: dislocated, dystopic, ectopic, heterotopic, malpositioned, misplaced, out of keeping with · Antonyms: in keeping with, in place

  2. idiomaticInappropriate for the circumstances.

    Near-synonym: atopic

    5 more examples

    That remark was out of place.

    [H]e ſo ſtudied with wordes & ſaynges brought furth ſo out of time & place to make ſporte and moue laughter, yͭ he himſelf was oftener laughed at thẽ his ieſtes were.

    [1551, Thomas More, “The Fyrste Boke of the Communycacion of Raphaell Hythlodaye Concernynge the Best State of a Commen Wealthe”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC, signatures E.i., verso – E.ii., recto

    Bare lyes vvith bold affections they can face, / But dint of argument is out of place.

    1687, [John Dryden], “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 84

    All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. […] Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.

    1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 198–199

    [Marcus] Rashford showed the fearless streak [Gareth] Southgate so admires with his constant willingness to run at Brazil's defence with pace, even demonstrating on occasion footwork that would not have been out of place from members of England's illustrious opposition.

    2017 November 14, Phil McNulty, “International Friendlies: England 0 – 0 Brazil”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 27 Feb 2023

    Synonyms: unseemly, atopic · Antonyms: appropriate, seemly

Synonyms & antonyms

prepositional phraseNot in the proper arrangement or situation.

Similar
dislocateddystopicectopicheterotopicmalpositionedmisplacedout of keeping with
Opposite
in keeping within place

prepositional phraseInappropriate for the circumstances.

Similar
unseemlyatopic
Opposite
appropriateseemly

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveof an inappropriate or misapplied nature

Similar
inappositemalapropos
Also see
badinappositeinappropriatemalaproposunfitunhappyunsuitable

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From out of (preposition) + place (“a fitting position”, noun).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic فِي غَيْرِ مَحَلِّهِ
  • فِي غَيْرِ مَحَلِّهِ (fī ḡayri maḥallihi)not in the proper arrangement or situation
Bulgarian неуместен
  • неуместен (neumesten)not in the proper arrangement or situation
Finnish poissa paikaltaan, poissa paikoiltaan
  • poissa paikaltaannot in the proper arrangement or situation
  • poissa paikoiltaannot in the proper arrangement or situation
  • poissa tolaltaannot in the proper arrangement or situation
  • sopimatonnot in the proper arrangement or situation
French déplacé
  • déplacénot in the proper arrangement or situation
German fehl am Platz
  • fehl am Platznot in the proper arrangement or situation
Icelandic passar ekki
  • passar ekkinot in the proper arrangement or situation
Italian disambientato, spaesato
  • disambientatonot in the proper arrangement or situation
  • spaesatonot in the proper arrangement or situation
Japanese 場違い
  • 場違い (bachigai)not in the proper arrangement or situation
Polish nie na miejscu
  • nie na miejscunot in the proper arrangement or situation
Portuguese fora do lugar, deslocado
  • fora do lugarnot in the proper arrangement or situation
  • deslocadonot in the proper arrangement or situation
Russian не к ме́сту, некста́ти
  • не к ме́сту (ne k méstu)not in the proper arrangement or situation
  • некста́ти (nekstáti)not in the proper arrangement or situation
  • невпопа́д (nevpopád)not in the proper arrangement or situation
Spanish fuera de lugar, fuera de lugar
  • fuera de lugarnot in the proper arrangement or situation
  • fuera de lugarinappropriate for the circumstances
Swedish på tok
  • på toknot in the proper arrangement or situation
Cite this entry
APA

out of place. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20place

MLA

“out of place.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20place. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “out of place,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20place.

Source: out of place on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.