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Definition of "washout" []

  • Erosion of a relatively soft surface, such as a roadbed, by a sudden gush of water, as from a downpour or floods. (noun)
  • A channel produced by such erosion. (noun)
  • A total failure or disappointment. (noun)
  • One who fails to measure up to a standard, especially one who fails a course of training or study. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "washout" in a sentence
  • "I'm not sure what happens when an antrum washout is performed spontaneously, even on the spur of the moment and in anger shall we say, using a left oblique italic nib via a Mont Blanc pen tanked up with a nice permanent black"
  • "The bridge washout is not an unusual happening in that part of Sonora during heavy rains - they are used to dealing with it."
  • "It gave me hardcore flashbacks of mega-plant Carly Smithson, the intermittently-Irish waitress / major-label washout who Simon propped the hell out of last season."