Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- transitive v. To delay until the end of; wait out: had to outwait the traffic jam.
- transitive v. To get the better of or overcome by refraining from action: sat back and decided to outwait my opponent.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. To wait for something to end
- v. To gain an advantage by simply waiting
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To lie in ambush longer than; surpass in waiting or expecting.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
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He says the Taliban, who are indigenous to Afghanistan, are in a good position to come out on top because it can outwait “the enemy.”
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"He has billions of dollars that he can use for a while; he can outwait the rebels," said Lisa Anderson, a Cairo-based Libya expert.
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Abe, I always thought a government staffer could outwait an author who panics at the first flicker of a surge on his bunny monitor.
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In other words, either trying to outwait the revolutionaries or imposing the Tiananmen solution risked the downfall of the economic empires of Egypt’s ruling groups.
Michael Schwartz: The (Sometimes) Incredible Power of Nonviolent Protest
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She loved the throbbing, breathless anticipation of leisurely lovemaking, too—if she could manage to outwait him.
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They believe they can outwork you, outwait you, and yes, out-organize you.
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Ruhlmann had perhaps hoped to outwait Sparky or give her the silent treatment, but finally, he said, “I have a meeting outside the office at eleven-thirty.”
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Whatever I had seemed like a bad spell that I had to outwait or at least get used to while I did my best to overcome it.
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The Taliban can outwait the tenure of aid workers, diplomats and foreign troops and US and Afghan electoral cycles.
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In some ways, they are the canaries in the coalmine of the current economic crisis: women who did everything right, but who lacked the resources to outwait the bureaucratic process.
Comments
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