What does lockout mean?
A lockout is a deliberate refusal to permit people—especially employees—to enter a workplace or continue working, usually as part of a labor dispute. In contrast to a strike, in which workers stop work, a lockout is initiated by the employer. The term also has a broader technical sense: a temporary denial of access or suspension of operation, such as an account lockout after repeated failed login attempts or a safety lockout that isolates machinery. Lockout is standard formal vocabulary in British and American English and often appears in discussions of industrial relations, employment law, workplace safety, and security. Because it implies exclusion, interruption, or coercion, it generally carries a negative connotation, though the phrase safety lockout has a neutral protective function. The word is useful for distinguishing the employer's form of work stoppage from the employees' and for naming systems designed to prevent unauthorized or unsafe access.
nounA lockout is a deliberate refusal by an employer to allow employees to enter a workplace or continue working, typically during a labor dispute. More broadly, it refers to a temporary denial of access or suspension of operation affecting an account, facility, system, or piece of equipment.
- A refusal by an employer to allow employees to enter or continue working, usually as part of a labor dispute.
- A temporary denial of access or suspension of operation, as with an account, facility, system, or machinery.
"Following failed contract negotiations, the factory entered a lockout and workers were denied entry."
"After three unsuccessful password attempts, the account lockout temporarily blocked further access."
"The maintenance team engaged the safety lockout before servicing the conveyor belt."
The regular plural is formed by adding -s; the plural is used for separate lockouts or distinct instances of workplace closure or access suspension.
"The newspaper reported several lockouts across the manufacturing industry."
When workers stop work, it is a strike; when an employer bars them from the workplace, it is a lockout.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does lockout come from?
Lockout is a transparent English compound formed from lock and out, both of which are attested far earlier than the compound. The compound appeared in the nineteenth century and developed a prominent labor meaning in which an employer closes the workplace or excludes employees from work. Lock itself comes from Old English loc, a word for a bar, fastening, or means of securing an opening, and is related to forms in other Germanic languages.
How lockout is actually used
The word is standard in British and American English and is especially common in labor relations, industrial law, workplace safety, and computing contexts. It is formal and generally connotes exclusion, interruption, or coercion, although expressions such as safety lockout have a neutral protective meaning. As a verb, the usual form is the phrasal verb lock out rather than lockout.
Easily confused with lockout
A lock is a fastening device or the act of securing something, whereas a lockout is a closure or exclusion that prevents access to a workplace, account, facility, or system.