down and out
"down-and-out" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“down and out” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - In a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | down and out |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “down and out” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for down and out is 12 letters long, classified as an adjective. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "In a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.".
down and out doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is down and out, spelled D-O-W-N- -A-N-D- -O-U-T.
Definition
- 1In a condition of poverty or debility, especially as a result of experiencing a financial or personal setback.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “down and out”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-W-N- -A-N-D- -O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.