ENGLISH
REFERENCE

rout

n. countable
C1 Advanced US //ˈɹaʊt// rout Archaic Dialect

n. a total and messy defeat. It describes a situation where one side loses so badly that they run away in confusion.

n. a decisive and humiliating defeat, typically resulting in a disorderly retreat of the vanquished party.


SIMPLE

The championship game turned into a complete rout by the second half.

CONTEXTUAL

What began as a close political race ended in a rout, with the incumbent losing every single district.

COMPLEX

The military historian argued that the initial skirmish was manageable, but poor communication among the officers turned a tactical withdrawal into a panicked rout.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English rout, route (“group of people associated with one another, company; entourage, retinue; army; group of soldiers; group of pirates; large number of people, crowd; throng; group of disreputable people, mob; riot; group of animals; group of objects; proper condition or manner”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman route, rute, Middle French rote, route, Old French rote, route, rute (“group of people, company; group of armed people; group of criminals; group of cattle”) (modern French route (obsolete)), from Latin rupta (compare Late Latin ruta, rutta (“group of marauders; riot; unlawful assembly”)), the feminine of ruptus (“broken; burst, ruptured”), the perfect passive participle of rumpō (“to break, burst, rupture, tear; to force open; (figurative) to annul; to destroy; to interrupt”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to break; to tear (up)”). The English word is a doublet of route. The verb is derived from Middle English routen (“to assemble, congregate; of animals: to herd together; to regroup, make a stand against; to be riotous, to riot”) [and other forms], from rout, route (noun); see above.

Etymology 2

The noun is derived from Middle French route (“military defeat; retreat”), from rout, archaic past participle of Middle French, Old French rompre (“to break; to break up, disperse”) (modern French rompre (“to break, snap; to break up (with someone)”)), from Latin rumpere, the present active infinitive of rumpō (“to break, burst, rupture, tear; to force open; (figurative) to annul; to destroy; to interrupt”); see further at etymology 1. The verb is derived from the noun.

Etymology 3

The verb is derived from Middle English routen (“to snore; to grunt, snort; to sleep; to dwell; to settle permanently”), [and other forms], from Old English hrūtan (“to snore; to make a noise”), from Proto-West Germanic hrūtan (“to snore”), from Proto-Germanic hrūtaną, hreutaną (“to snore”), from hruttōną (“to snore; to roar”), from Proto-Indo-European ker-, kor-, kr- (“to croak, crow”), krut- (“to snore; to roar”), probably ultimately imitative. The English word is cognate with Icelandic rjóta, hrjóta (“to snore; to rattle, roar”), rauta (“to roar”), Middle Dutch ruyten (“to make a noise; to chatter, chirp”), Middle High German rūssen, rūzen (“to make a noise; to buzz; to rattle; to snore”), Norwegian Nynorsk ruta (“to make a loud noise; to roar, rumble”), Swedish ryta (“to bellow, roar; to scream or shout angrily”). Compare Old English rēotan, hrēotan (“to make a noise; to make a noise in grief, lament, wail; to shed tears, weep”), from Proto-Germanic reutaną; see further at etymology 4. The noun is derived from the verb. It is cognate with Southern Norwegian rut (“loud noise, din, roar”).

Etymology 4

The verb is derived from Middle English routen (“to cry out, bellow, roar”) [and other forms], from Old Norse rauta (“to roar”), from Proto-Germanic reutaną (“to cry, wail”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European HrewdH- (“to weep”), probably imitative. The English word is cognate with Danish ryde (“to low, moo”), Latin rudere, rūdere (“to bray; to cry”), Lithuanian raudóti (“to wail; to lament; to sob”), Norwegian raute (“to bellow; to low, moo”), Old Church Slavonic рꙑдати (rydati, “to wail, weep”), Old High German riozan (“to roar; to wail”) (Middle High German riezen (“to wail”)), Old Norse rjóta (“to roar”), Old Swedish riuta, ryta (“to howl, wail; to roar”) (modern Swedish ruta, ryta (“to howl; to roar”) (regional)), Old Swedish röta (“to bellow, roar”) (modern Swedish rauta, råta, rota, röta (“to bellow, roar”) (regional)), Sanskrit रुद् (rud, “to cry, wail, weep; to howl, roar; to bewail, deplore, lament”). The noun is derived from the verb, or from a noun derived from Old Norse rauta (“to roar”) (see above).

Etymology 5

A variant of wrout, itself a variant of wroot (“to search or root in the ground”) (obsolete), from Middle English wroten (“to search or root in the ground; of a person: to dig earth; of a worm: to slither, wriggle; to corrode; of a worm: to irritate by biting the skin; to destroy (a fortification) by digging or mining”) [and other forms] (whence root), from Old English wrōtan (“to root up or rummage with the snout”). from Proto-West Germanic wrōtan, from Proto-Germanic wrōtaną (“to dig with the nose or snout, to root”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps related to Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“a root”), whence the English nouns wort and root.

Etymology 6

Possibly a variant of root (“to dig or pull out by the roots; to abolish, exterminate, root out”), from Middle English wroten; see further at etymology 5. Some recent uses are difficult to tell apart from rout (“of an animal, especially a pig: to search (for something) in the ground with the snout; to search for and find (something)”).

Etymology 7

The verb is derived from Middle English routen (“to move quickly, rush; of waters: to churn, surge; to drag, pull; to throw; to agitate, shake; to beat, strike;”) [and other forms], from Old English hrūtan, from or cognate with Old Norse hrjóta (“to be flung; to fall; to fly”), from Proto-Germanic hrūtaną, hreutaną (“to fall; to fly; to move quickly”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *krew- (“to fall, plunge; to rush; to topple”). The English word is cognate with Middle High German rûzen (“to move quickly, storm”), and is also related to Old English hrēosan (“to fall; to collapse; to rush”). The noun is derived from Middle English rout, route (“a blow; suffering, woe (?); a jerk, sharp pull”) [and other forms], from routen; see above.

Etymology 8

Uncertain; either imitative of the bird’s call, or possibly from Icelandic hrota (“brant; brent goose”), also probably imitative though perhaps influenced by hrot (“a snore; act of snoring”), from hrjóta (“to snore”), from Old Norse hrjóta (“to snore”), from Proto-Germanic *hrūtaną (“to snore”); see further at etymology 3.

Usage

Often used with the verbs 'turn into' or 'end in'.

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