oust
/aʊst/verb
oust is spelled O-U-S-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,168th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, oust means “To expel; to remove” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in oust?
| Letters | 4: O-U-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 31,168th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is oust?
Oust appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,168th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce oust?
- UK /aʊst/
- Canada /ʌʊst/
Oust has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-oust.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of oust
- ousts present, singular, he/she/it
- ousting participle, present
- ousted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does oust mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To expel; to remove.
The protesters became so noisy that they were finally ousted from the meeting.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Oust in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to expel; to remove:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | expulser |
| German | verdrängen, vertreiben, schassen |
| Portuguese | retirar, expulsar |
| Spanish | desbancar, destituir |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does oust come from?
From Anglo-Norman ouster, oustier, from Old French oster (modern French ôter), from post-classical Latin obstare (“to remove”), classical obstāre (“to obstruct, stand in the way of”). Not related to out.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).