eat out — eat at a restaurant
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
To have a meal at a restaurant or café instead of at home.
Say it like a native
Textbook We shall dine at a restaurant this evening.
Native Let's eat out tonight.
'Dine at a restaurant' is formal; 'eat out' is the everyday phrase.
Pattern: eat out (no object)
In use
- We usually eat out on Fridays to try different restaurants.daily life
- In my country, people often eat out with friends to celebrate special occasions.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ We eat outside every weekend.
✓ We eat out every weekend.
'Eat out' = at a restaurant; 'eat outside' = outdoors (al fresco).
Common collocations
eat out— tonight, often, a lot, for dinner
Don't confuse it
Do not confuse with 'take out', which means to get food from a restaurant to eat elsewhere.