rule sth or sb out
— phrasal verb with rule uk/ruːl/us/ruːl/verb
C2 to decide or say officially that something is impossible or will not happen, or that something or someone is not suitable:
The police haven't yet ruled out murder.
I won't rule out a June election.
The police have not ruled him out as a suspect.
More examples
- The UN rush to mandate war totally ruled out any alternatives.
- He refused to rule out the possibility of a comeback.
- Smith has been ruled out of contention for the manager's job.
- The discovery rules out a link between the suspect and the scene of crime.
- We would not rule out the possibility of re-entering the B2C market if conditions change.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Refusing & rejecting
- abnegate
- blow
- bugger
- damned
- demur
- derecognize
- disclaim
- door
- override
- react against sth
- refusal
- shoot
- shun
- sit
- sit sth out
- throw
- veto
- vote sth down
- wash
- wild horses wouldn't drag me idiom
See more results »