blow out
2 meanings
stop a flame by blowing on it
What does "blow out" mean in this sense?
Examples
- Make a wish and blow out the candles!
- She blew all the candles out in one breath.
- The wind came through the window and the flame blew out.
How to use it
The most common pattern, used when a person deliberately extinguishes a light source by blowing.
He took a deep breath and blew out all the candles on the cake.
Separation is very natural with short noun objects, and this form is extremely common in everyday speech.
She cupped her hand around the match and blew it out carefully.
When you use a pronoun instead of a noun, it must always go between 'blow' and 'out'.
The candles were dripping wax, so we quickly blew them out.
When wind or moving air extinguishes a flame without a person deliberately acting, 'blow out' is used without an object.
The camping lantern blew out as soon as the storm arrived.
The passive form is occasionally used in narrative or descriptive contexts to focus on the candle rather than the person.
One by one, the candles were blown out at the end of the ceremony.
Common Collocations
Common Mistakes
When the object is a pronoun like 'it' or 'them', it must go between 'blow' and 'out'. Placing the pronoun after 'out' is not grammatical in English.
'Blow out' only works when air is doing the extinguishing. For fires or flames put out with water or a fire blanket, use 'put out' instead.
Separation sounds natural with short objects, but if the noun phrase is very long, it is better to keep 'blow out' together and place the object after the particle.
Usage
This phrasal verb is neutral and works in any everyday situation. It specifically means extinguishing by blowing air, so don't use it for fires put out with water — use 'put out' instead.
burst suddenly while driving (a tyre)
Sense 2: What does "blow out" mean?
Examples
- A tyre blew out on the motorway and we had to pull over immediately.
- The front tyre blew out at 70 miles per hour, but the driver managed to keep control.
- Have you ever been driving when a tyre suddenly blows out?
How to use it
The most common pattern — the tyre is always the grammatical subject, since this is an intransitive verb with no object.
The rear tyre blew out just as they merged onto the motorway.
A location or circumstance (such as where or when it happened) is frequently added to give context to the event.
One of the tyres blew out in the fast lane, forcing them to steer carefully to the hard shoulder.
Speed is a very common detail in blowout narratives, reflecting that this usually happens during high-speed driving.
The front tyre blew out at around 90 kilometres per hour, but the driver managed to stay calm.
Used in conditional or temporal clauses, especially in driving advice or descriptions of what to do if it happens.
If a tyre blows out on the highway, try to grip the steering wheel firmly and avoid braking sharply.
When the tyre has already been identified in context, the pronoun 'it' replaces 'tyre' as the subject.
I heard a loud bang and realised it had blown out — we had to call roadside assistance.
Common Collocations
Common Mistakes
In this tyre sense, 'blow out' is intransitive — the tyre is the subject, not the object. Saying 'I blew out the tyre' suggests a different sense (like extinguishing a flame) and doesn't work here.
'Blow out' describes a sudden, dramatic burst, usually at speed. 'Go flat' refers to a tyre gradually losing air — a much slower, quieter process. They are not interchangeable.
Because a blowout is instantaneous, the present continuous ('is blowing out') sounds very unnatural — the event is over almost before it begins. Use the simple past for narratives, or simple present for general statements.
Usage
This phrasal verb is neutral and used equally in British and American English (with 'tyre' vs 'tire'). The noun form 'blowout' is very common and often more natural than the verb form when describing the event itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does 'blow out' always need an object, like a candle?
Not always. You can use 'blow out' without an object when wind or air causes a flame to go out on its own — for example, 'The candle blew out in the breeze.' When a person deliberately extinguishes a flame, you usually include the object: 'She blew out the candle.'
Can 'blow out' mean something other than extinguishing a flame?
Yes — the same words can be used in other situations, such as a tyre bursting or, informally, cancelling plans with someone. However, these are completely separate meanings. When you're talking about candles, matches, or flames, 'blow out' always means to extinguish by blowing air.
What kinds of things can you 'blow out'?
The object is always a light source or flame — candles, birthday candles, a match, a torch, a lantern, or simply 'the flame' or 'the light'. You wouldn't use 'blow out' for larger fires like a campfire or a building fire, because those aren't extinguished by blowing air.
Is 'blow out' used in formal writing?
It's a neutral, everyday phrasal verb, so it fits naturally in informal speech, children's books, and casual writing. In very formal or academic writing, you might prefer 'extinguish', but 'blow out' is perfectly fine in most written contexts, including stories and general articles.
Can 'blow out' be used in the passive, like 'the tyre was blown out'?
No — in this sense, 'blow out' is intransitive, which means it cannot be made passive. The tyre is the subject that performs the action, so there is no object to move into a passive construction. You would always say 'the tyre blew out', never 'the tyre was blown out'.
Is 'blowout' (one word) the same as 'blow out' (two words)?
Yes — 'blowout' is the noun form of the same event and is very commonly used. 'We had a blowout on the motorway' is often more natural in everyday speech than 'a tyre blew out on the motorway', though both are correct. The phrasal verb form is most common when narrating exactly what happened.
Does 'blow out' only apply to tyres, or can other things blow out?
In this specific sense — a sudden burst while driving — yes, it is essentially limited to tyres. The phrasal verb 'blow out' has other senses too, such as extinguishing a flame, but those are entirely separate meanings and work differently grammatically.
Is there a difference between British and American English for this phrasal verb?
The phrasal verb itself is used identically in both varieties. The only difference is the spelling of the noun: British English uses 'tyre' while American English uses 'tire'. So you'd say 'a tyre blew out' in British English and 'a tire blew out' in American English.
Can I use 'blow out' to describe a tyre that loses air slowly in a car park?
No — 'blow out' always implies a sudden, dramatic burst, usually while the vehicle is moving at speed. For a tyre that slowly loses pressure while parked, you would say it 'went flat' or 'got a puncture' instead.
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