ride out
B2Formal and informal; common in both journalism and everyday speech.
Definition
Meaning
To survive or endure a difficult or dangerous period, especially without suffering major damage or making major changes.
Used figuratively to mean persisting through any prolonged negative situation, such as an economic downturn, a storm, criticism, or emotional turmoil, until it subsides.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Often used with nouns describing unpleasant events (storms, crises, recessions). Implies resilience, passive endurance, and waiting for the situation to improve naturally rather than actively solving it. It is a phrasal verb with an idiomatic, figurative sense separate from the literal act of riding.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
Usage is virtually identical in both varieties. No significant differences in meaning or frequency.
Connotations
Same core connotation of enduring a crisis. Slightly more common in financial/business contexts.
Frequency
Equally common in both British and American English.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
[Subject] + ride out + [Object (crisis/storm)][Subject] + ride + [Object (it)] + outVocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “Ride out the storm”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Common: 'The company has enough capital to ride out the recession.'
Academic
Possible in historical/political analysis: 'The regime rode out the wave of protests.'
Everyday
Common: 'We'll just have to ride out this bad weather.'
Technical
Rare. Possible in meteorology or sailing with a more literal sense: 'The ship rode out the hurricane.'
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- The government hopes to ride out the political scandal.
- We found a sheltered cove to ride out the gale.
American English
- The investors decided to ride out the market volatility.
- They hunkered down to ride out the hurricane.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- The boat was small, but it rode out the small storm.
- We can ride out the rain in this cafe.
- Small businesses often struggle to ride out an economic crisis.
- He's confident he can ride out the criticism.
- The cabinet's strategy is simply to ride out the media frenzy until public attention shifts.
- With sufficient supplies, the expedition could ride out any prolonged blizzard.
- The central bank's intervention provided the liquidity needed for financial institutions to ride out the credit crunch.
- His reputation was tarnished, but he rode out the controversy and remained in post.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Imagine a surfer RIDING ON a board OUT past the dangerous breaking waves, surviving them to reach calmer water.
Conceptual Metaphor
DIFFICULTIES ARE STORMS / JOURNEYS. One is a traveler (rider) passing through a dangerous stretch of path/weather.
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Avoid direct calque 'прокатиться наружу'.
- Do not confuse with 'to ride' (ездить) as mere transportation.
- The phrase is about endurance, not action or exiting.
Common Mistakes
- *We rode out the problem quickly. (Implies duration, not speed)
- Incorrect particle: *'ride over' a crisis.
- Using for positive events: *'ride out the celebration'.
Practice
Quiz
In which scenario is 'ride out' used CORRECTLY?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, it is a separable phrasal verb. You can say 'ride the storm out' or 'ride out the storm'. The pronoun 'it' must go in the middle: 'ride it out'.
It is typically used for problems of some duration (storms, crises, recessions). For a very short problem (e.g., a momentary pain), 'get through' is more natural.
'Ride out' suggests passive endurance until the problem ends by itself. 'Overcome' suggests active effort to defeat the problem.
Yes, especially to describe the ongoing process of endurance. E.g., 'We are riding out the downturn.'