outreach
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The act or practice of visiting and providing services to people who might not otherwise have access to those services.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
owtreechSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈaʊtɹitʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act or practice of visiting and providing services (of a charity, church, or other organization) to people who might not otherwise have access to those services.
The act of reaching out; the act of raising awareness.
The extent or length of one's reach.
verb
intransitive
To provide charitable or religious services to people who would otherwise not have access to those services.
transitive
To reach further than.
transitive
To surpass or exceed.
intransitive
To go too far.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act or practice of visiting and providing services (of a charity, church, or other organization) to people who might not otherwise have access to those services.
Used this way, outreach is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “outreach” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.