rule out

present singular third person rules out · participle present ruling out · participle past ruled out · past ruled out

1. transitiveTo cross an item out by drawing a straight line through it, as with a ruler.
2. idiomatictransitiveTo reject an option from a list of possibilities.

   As Jane Doe had an alibi, the police were able to rule her out as a suspect.

   5 more examples

   In general, steel springs were stipulated for primary suspension, although rubber was accepted for auxiliary springing; hydraulic dampers were specified and the use of laminated springs ruled out.

   1960 December, “The first hundred 25 kV a.c. electric locomotives for B.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 726

   The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has categorically ruled out any new negotiations saying the future of the Falklands can only be decided by the islanders themselves in accordance with the UN principle of self-determination.

   2013 January 3, Luke Harding, Uki Goni, The Guardian

   Arson has not been ruled out in a fire that broke out Friday in Yungho, New Taipei, causing one death and 24 injuries, the city's fire department said that day.

   2014 September 12, “Deadly New Taipei blaze: arson suspected”, in Focus Taiwan, archived from the original on 03 Oct 2022, Society

   Electrification of the Midland Main Line has not been ruled out.

   2020 April 8, “Network News: MML still on electrification agenda”, in Rail, page 23

   He would be well advised to be cautious, despite the fragile ceasefire that the US President Donald Trump and the Emir of Qatar brokered. Though President Trump reportedly told Israel not to kill Iran's supreme leader, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule it out.

   2025 June 26, Kasra Naji, “When Iran's supreme leader emerges from hiding he will find a very different nation”, in BBC

   Synonyms: eliminate, reject

3. idiomatictransitiveTo make something impossible.

   The constant rain ruled out any chance of a game of tennis.

   Synonyms: preclude

4. transitiveTo disallow.

   And Martin Skrtel's late headed goal was rightly ruled out for offside.

   2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC

5. transitiveTo make unavailable.

   1 more example

   Flair and invention were very much at a premium, suffocated by the relentless pace and often fractious nature of proceedings. The absence of James Morrison from the centre of Scotland’s midfield, the West Brom man ruled out on the morning of the game by illness, had already diminished the creative capacity of the home side in that department.

   2014 November 14, Stephen Halliday, “Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero”, in The Scotsman