Black out or blackout?
black out is a verb meaning “To censor or cover up by writing over with black ink”; blackout is a noun meaning “A temporary loss of consciousness”. Use black out as a verb and blackout as a noun. black out is written as two words and blackout as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between black out and blackout?
| black out | blackout | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun |
| Meaning | To censor or cover up by writing over with black ink To censor or cover up | A temporary loss of consciousness A temporary loss of memory |
| Example | Seigel was able to send two post cards home in 44 months via the Red Cross. The first one was completely blacked out by the Japanese… | media blackout |
| Forms | none | blackouts |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈblæk.aʊt/ /ˈblæk.ʌʊt/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 3.8 times per million words |
Sources: black out and blackout in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of black out and blackout
black out
- 1
To censor or cover up by writing over with black ink
Seigel was able to send two post cards home in 44 months via the Red Cross. The first one was completely blacked out by the Japanese censor's pen. The second one he sent, Seigel…
- 2
Alternative spelling of blackout
- 3
To censor or cover up
- 4
To lose consciousness; to suffer a blackout
- 5
To cause (someone) to lose consciousness
- 6
To obscure in darkness
- 7
To be in a state of blackout, as a building, a city, a ship
The countryside blacked out to avoid helping enemy aircraft
blackout
- 1
A temporary loss of consciousness
- 2
A temporary loss of memory
- 3
A large-scale power failure, and resulting loss of electricity to consumers
- 4
An instance of censorship, especially a temporary one
media blackout
- 5
An intentional outage of a website or other online service, typically as a form of protest
the 2012 English Wikipedia blackout
- 6
The mandatory blocking of all light emanating from buildings, as well as outdoor and street lighting as a measure against aerial bombing or naval attack, as imposed during, e.g., World War II
- 7
The blocking out of as much light as possible
blackout blinds; blackout curtains
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, black out or blackout?
black out is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; blackout 3.8 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).