Leave out means not to include something or someone: a word in a text, a detail in a story, a person on a list or in a group activity. You can leave something out on purpose or by mistake. To feel left out is to feel unwanted when everyone else is together and nobody has invited you.
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leave out + word/detail/person; leave it out; leave + person + out of + plan/team; feel left out
- If a detail doesn't support your main idea, leave it out of the essay.
- You left out the most important part: did you actually get the job?
- The new intern felt left out because the rest of the team always had lunch together.
What changed
First versionAt the party everyone spoke Spanish, and I felt myself left out.
RevisionAt the party everyone spoke Spanish, and I felt left out.
It can seem natural to add “myself” after “felt”. But in English, “feel” is followed directly by the word that describes the state: “I felt left out”, “I feel tired”. Remove “myself”, and the sentence sounds natural.
“Leave out” means not including something in a text, a list or a plan. If you did not go to an event or a class, use “miss”: I missed the first lecture. You cannot say “left out the lecture” with this meaning.
Your turn
When I made the guest list for my wedding, I accidentally ___ my cousin, and she was really upset.
Show the answer
left out — This is about a guest list: the cousin was not put on it, so “left out” is right. “Left behind” means to go somewhere without taking someone or something with you, for example when you leave home, and it does not fit a list.
Write about a presentation, a letter or a text you had to shorten. Say what you decided not to include and why.
I left the company's history out of my presentation because I only had ten minutes.
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