Buy out or buyout?
buy out is a verb meaning “to purchase the entire stock or extent of something”; buyout is a noun meaning “The acquisition of a controlling interest in a business or corporation by…”. Use buy out as a verb and buyout as a noun. buy out is written as two words and buyout as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between buy out and buyout?
| buy out | buyout | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun |
| Meaning | to purchase the entire stock or extent of something to purchase the ownership of a company | The acquisition of a controlling interest in a business or corporation by outright purchase or by purchase of a majority of issued shares of stock The use of grant monies to pay for another person to perform the usual duties, especially teaching duties, of someone engaged on the funded project |
| Example | You always manage to buy out at the last second | none recorded |
| Forms | none | buyouts |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 1.4 times per million words |
Sources: buy out and buyout 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 buy out and buyout
buy out
- 1
to purchase the entire stock or extent of something
- 2
Alternative spelling of buyout
- 3
to purchase the ownership of a company
- 4
To close someone's contract by paying him or her a sum of money, the terms of which are often stated in the contract itself
- 5
To gain release for (a person) from military service by payment of money
- 6
USdatedslangTo avoid a punishment or escape a difficult situation
You always manage to buy out at the last second
buyout
- 1
The acquisition of a controlling interest in a business or corporation by outright purchase or by purchase of a majority of issued shares of stock
- 2
The use of grant monies to pay for another person to perform the usual duties, especially teaching duties, of someone engaged on the funded project
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, buy out or buyout?
buy out is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; buyout 1.4 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search buy out vs buyout?
“buy out vs buyout” is searched about 10 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“buyout vs buy out”, “buy out or buyout”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.