To outgrow something means to become too big or too mature for it. When you outgrow your shoes, your feet have grown larger and the shoes don't fit anymore. When you outgrow your clothes, you've gotten taller or bigger and they're suddenly too small or too short.

But outgrow applies to more than physical size. You can also outgrow interests, habits, or behaviors as you mature. A child might outgrow their fear of the dark, or outgrow playing with certain toys that once seemed endlessly entertaining. You might outgrow a friendship if you and a friend develop completely different interests and find you have less and less in common.

The word suggests natural development and change. There's nothing wrong with what you've outgrown; you've simply moved beyond it. A teenager who outgrows video games they loved at age eight hasn't decided those games are bad; they've just changed as a person. Plants can outgrow their pots, requiring bigger containers for their expanding roots. In each case, growth creates the need for something new, something that better fits who or what you've become.