Push Out
phrasal verbBase push out · Past pushed out · Past Participle pushed out · Present Participle pushing out · 3rd person pushes out
Definition
1. (phrasal verb) To force someone to leave a job, position, or group — not by firing them directly, but by making things uncomfortable or impossible until they go.
2. (phrasal verb) To produce or release something in large amounts or at a fast pace — used for products, content, or information.
2. (phrasal verb) To produce or release something in large amounts or at a fast pace — used for products, content, or information.
Context Alive
Your colleague has been at the company for eight years, longer than most of the current management. A new director comes in, starts changing everything, and suddenly your colleague gets left out of meetings, loses her key projects, and gets moved to a smaller desk near the toilets. Everyone can see what's happening — they're pushing her out without actually saying the words. She holds on for two months before finally handing in her resignation, which is exactly what they wanted.
Meanings
2 meanings 1 To Force Someone Out of a Position (Phrasal Verb) Very Common ▼
This meaning is about making someone leave a job, group, or position — not by telling them directly to go, but by creating conditions that make it impossible or unbearable to stay. Imagine a senior employee who disagrees with the new CEO's direction, and over the next few weeks she stops getting invited to important meetings, her budget gets cut, and her responsibilities quietly shift to someone else — she's being pushed out. This is describing a slow, deliberate process of forcing someone to leave without saying "you're fired." You might hear "he was pushed out after the merger because the new owners wanted their own people" about someone who lost his position to a political move, or someone could say "they're trying to push me out — I can feel it" when they sense they're no longer wanted at work. Or think about a founding member of a band who keeps getting overruled on creative decisions until he finally quits — he was pushed out, even if nobody admits it. The word suggests indirect pressure rather than a direct confrontation.
✏️ Push out is the go-to phrase when someone leaves a job but it wasn't really their choice. "He resigned" tells you the official story. "He was pushed out" tells you what actually happened. It's extremely common in workplace and political conversations — you'll hear it about CEOs, politicians, team members, and anyone who was quietly forced to go.
2 To Produce or Release Something Quickly (Phrasal Verb) Common ▼
This meaning is about creating and releasing a large amount of something — products, content, updates, or information — often at a fast pace. Imagine a tech company that pushes out a software update every two weeks, whether it's ready or not, just to keep up with competitors. This is describing production that emphasises speed and volume. You might hear "the factory pushes out 10,000 units a day" when talking about a manufacturing operation running at full speed, or someone could say "they keep pushing out new content but the quality is dropping" about a YouTube channel that posts too often. Or picture a news outlet during a crisis, pushing out articles every hour to keep up with the story — speed matters more than perfection. The word suggests volume and pace, sometimes at the cost of quality.
✏️ This meaning has a slightly negative edge in many contexts — pushing out content or products often implies rushing. "They're just pushing out updates" suggests the company isn't being careful enough. But it can be neutral too: "the factory pushes out thousands of cars a year" is just describing production capacity without criticism.
Common Patterns
Basic Structures
push someone out → to force a person to leave a position or group
The board quietly pushed him out after the scandal became public.
push out + product / content → to produce and release something, often quickly
The studio pushes out three new shows every month.
get pushed out → to be the one forced to leave — passive form
She got pushed out of her own company by the investors.
Common Structures
push someone out of + position / role / group → specifies where the person was forced from
They pushed him out of the leadership team and replaced him with someone younger.
be pushed out in favour of + someone → replaced by a preferred person
The original coach was pushed out in favour of a bigger name.
keep pushing out + noun → to continuously produce at a high pace
They keep pushing out cheap copies but none of them are any good.
Collocations
10 collocationspush someone out of a job
to force someone to leave their position at work
pushed out of the company
forced to leave a business, usually through indirect pressure
quietly pushed out
removed from a role without a public announcement or confrontation
push out updates
to release software updates, often frequently
push out content
to produce and publish material at a fast rate
push out products
to manufacture or release products in high volume
effectively pushed out
forced out in practice, even if it wasn't done officially
push out a statement
to quickly release an official response or announcement
get pushed out
to be on the receiving end of being forced to leave
push out in favour of
to remove someone and replace them with a preferred choice
Example Sentences
10 examples
1
Everyone knows he didn't resign — he was pushed out after disagreeing with the new CEO.
Nobody believes he left by choice — he was forced out after clashing with the new boss.
2
The company pushes out a new software update almost every week.
The company releases a fresh software patch nearly every single week.
3
She was quietly pushed out of the project team and nobody even told her why.
She was silently removed from the project group without any explanation.
4
The factory pushes out over 5,000 units a day during peak season.
The plant produces more than 5,000 items daily when demand is at its highest.
5
After the merger, most of the original staff were pushed out within six months.
Following the merger, the majority of the original employees were forced to leave in half a year.
6
They keep pushing out new features, but half of them are full of bugs.
They keep releasing new features, but many of them are broken and full of errors.
7
The founding member was pushed out of the band after creative disagreements.
The original member was forced out of the group because they couldn't agree on the music's direction.
8
The government pushed out a statement within hours of the leak.
The government released an official response just hours after the information was leaked.
9
He felt he was being pushed out when they stopped inviting him to key meetings.
He sensed they were trying to get rid of him once he was excluded from important discussions.
10
The channel pushes out three videos a day, but the quality has really dropped.
The channel uploads three videos daily, but the standard has gone down noticeably.
Synonyms & Antonyms
6 items
Synonymsforce out
more direct and aggressive — less subtle than push out
edge out
even more gradual and subtle — implies slowly being moved aside
churn out
only for the production meaning — emphasises repetitive, fast output
Antonymswelcome in
to invite and include someone warmly — the opposite of forcing them out
hold back
to delay releasing something — the opposite of pushing it out quickly
retain
to keep someone in their position — the opposite of pushing them out