# carve out

CEFR B2 · Phrasal verb

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/carve-out
Updated: 2026-04-24

## Definition

to create a space, time, or career for yourself by working hard.

For teachers: to establish a specific role, niche, or opportunity through diligent effort; often used in professional or temporal contexts to describe the extraction of a smaller part from a larger whole.

## Examples

- I need to carve out some time for exercise.
- She managed to carve out a successful career in the competitive world of fashion design.
- Despite the saturated market, the startup managed to carve out a significant niche by focusing on sustainable packaging solutions.

## Pitfalls

- Not "He carved out it for himself." but "He carved it out for himself." — when using a pronoun like 'it', the phrasal verb is separable and the pronoun must go between the verb and the particle.

## Usage notes

- commonly used with objects like 'time', 'niche', 'career', or 'reputation'.
- Teaching tip: the metaphor comes from woodworking or stone carving, implying that the result is achieved through deliberate and sometimes difficult effort.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.