"Signout" Is Not a Verb

Despite what many people --mostly in the computer field-- think, "signout" is not a verb. It's simply not. Whether or not "signout" is a word at all may spark a debate in some circles, but assuming it is then it may act as many parts of speech, but not as a verb.

I will repeat the important part for clarity: "signout" is not a verb. It's simply not.



About Verbs



Verb: "Conjugate"


Singular Plural
PersonPronounVerb PronounVerb
1stIconjugate  weconjugate
2ndyouconjugate  you [all]conjugate
3rdhe/she/itconjugates  theyconjugate


Singular Plural
PersonPronounVerb PronounVerb
1stIconjugated  weconjugated
2ndyouconjugated  you [all]conjugated
3rdhe/she/itconjugated  theyconjugated


Verb: "Signout" (?)

As a new verb, "signout" should follow the regular, weak model that "conjugate" exemplifies. Unfortunately, it does not:

Singular Plural
PersonPronounVerb PronounVerb
1stIsignout  wesignout
2ndyousignout  you [all]signout
3rdhe/she/itsignouts  theysignout


Singular Plural
PersonPronounVerb PronounVerb
1stIsignouted  wesignouted
2ndyousignouted  you [all]signouted
3rdhe/she/itsignouted  theysignouted

Unfortunately, not a single one of those sounds right. It seems that "signout" can't change tense or conjugate like a normal verb.

A Strong Verb?


Present Past
I sing I sang
I run I ran
I meet I met
See how the strong verb forms its past participle by changing an internal vowel (instead of adding "ed" at the end, for example). "Signout" does not do that, so it's not a strong verb.

A Separate Verb?

  1. Part 1: signout
  2. Part 2:
Having only one part, signout cannot be a two-part verb.

True Behavior


Singular Plural
PersonPronounVerb PronounVerb
1stIsign out  wesign out
2ndyousign out  you [all]sign out
3rdhe/she/itsign out  theysign out

The past tense is also predictable:

Singular Plural
PersonPronounVerb PronounVerb
1stIsigned out  wesigned out
2ndyousigned out  you [all]signed out
3rdhe/she/itsigned out  theysigned out

What is it?

As I indicated earlier, I'm sure you can find purists who will argue "signout" is not a word at all. For the sake of discussion, I will assume it is a word because I do not care one way or another. Let's look at some possibilities:


Adjectives describe nouns. Let's put "signout" with some other adjectives ("stupid" and "alabaster") to see how well they play with each other:
The cat is stupid. It is a stupid cat.
The cat is alabaster. It is an alabaster cat.
The book is signout. It is a signout book.
"Signout" doesn't work well as an adjective.


The car runs smoothly.
The car runs quietly.
The car runs signout signout.
"Signout" doesn't work well as an adverb.



OwnedI have a book.
ModifiedI have a secret book.


OwnedI have a signout.
ModifiedI have a secret signout.

"Signout," it seems, works as a noun.


Clearly "signout" is not a verb. It's simply not. If it is any part of speech at all, it is a noun. While we did not explore every possible part of speech, we saw with certainty that "signout" is not a verb. It's simply not.

If you take only one thing away from this page, take that one fact: "signout" is not a verb. Educate others. Correct manuals, software, and web pages as you find them. Tell everyone you know that "signout" is not a verb. You will make a pedant (me) happy. You will earn the respect of grammar nazis. Most importantly, you will know the truth.


Magnanimousness demands that I offer solutions, or correct forms of some of the common abuses of "signout" Here are some suggestions, assuming you prefer to use "signout" as a word rather than take a more conservative approach and insist the proper form is "sign out" or "sign-in."

Common MisuseCorrection
Can you signout?Can you sign out?
I tried to signout . . . .I tried to sign out . . . .
Enter your name at the signout prompt.(This is acceptable)
Please signout again.Please sign out again.

What Next



For entertainment you can read a sarcastic rebuttal to the argument that signout really is a verb and the language simply has evolved.

© 2006 - 2022 notaverb.com

Thanks to Nathanial Jones for the observation of phrasal verbs.
Thanks to Andrew Dunbar for slowdown and splashdown.