out of the running
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
After missing out on the last 2 grand prix, a win for Mansell in France was a must, but he was beaten off the grid by his team mate, Ricardo Patrese.
Given Silvio ~ Berlusconi ’s sexcapades, the Italy that he leads can not be taken seriously, while Spain is out of the running for an EU leadership role, owing to its dire economic conditions.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “out of the running” mean?
No longer competing or being considered Literally: not participating in a race
Is “out of the running” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.