What's the difference between clout and lout?

Clout


Definition:

  • (n.) A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
  • (n.) A swadding cloth.
  • (n.) A piece; a fragment.
  • (n.) The center of the butt at which archers shoot; -- probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
  • (n.) An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
  • (n.) A blow with the hand.
  • (n.) To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage; patch, or mend, with a clout.
  • (n.) To join or patch clumsily.
  • (n.) To quard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
  • (n.) To give a blow to; to strike.
  • (n.) To stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Bargaining is a question of clout, and which side has more of it.
  • (2) The growing power of public sector employees allowed them to win better pay and conditions, and gave them a degree of political clout.
  • (3) Also, the sections of the public keenest on the BBC – women, younger Britons, people in the south-east of England, the wealthier ABC1 social categories – have considerable political clout.
  • (4) For a start it was a powerful coalition of organisations – which carried serious clout.
  • (5) White, backed by the financial clout of the US treasury, prevailed.
  • (6) Gallenzi, though, believes it still has the clout to stand up to Amazon.
  • (7) And that means they need to use their lobbying abilities, they need to use their commercial clout to force the government to be more responsible in whatever jurisdiction it is, in safeguarding our public interests.
  • (8) Although he is from the Pashtun ethnic group that dominates south Afghanistan , Ghani's tribe has traditionally had more clout in the east.
  • (9) King said Ryan, an influential voice on budgetary matters who was Mitt Romney’s presidential running mate in 2012, was the only person with the clout to run for speaker.
  • (10) China has far greater clout than Spain in Argentina, whose economy is heavily dependent on soya exports to the Asian giant, leading to speculation that Fernández might strike her own deal with Sinopec, effectively handing even greater control over Argentina's economy to Beijing.
  • (11) Political action committees are a means for individuals to join together so they have some clout in the political process, Symons said.
  • (12) As the Americans draw down their forces, their clout is visibly weakening.
  • (13) "Part of what has given Britain clout in the last 15 years has been that our economy has been seen to be successful, but the whole Anglo-Saxon model has taken a great knock," says Niblett.
  • (14) At the time of the handover, the then foreign secretary, Robin Cook, reiterated that Britain would use its clout to defend Hong Kong and its freedoms.
  • (15) US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks refer to Hadi as a putative reformer, albeit one who had enjoyed little clout among Yemeni powerbrokers.
  • (16) Less than a fifth of English voters think that Scottish independence would diminish the rest of Britain's clout in the world.
  • (17) Film-makers with clout could circumvent the system, but when most directors are straight, white men making films about straight, white men, we don’t tend to get a very diverse lineup of films.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
  • (18) Patrick Connolly of IFA firm AWD Chase de Vere is more sceptical about the power of individual shareholders, but says institutional investors do have a lot of clout.
  • (19) He was credited with helping YouView get its house in order and giving it some much-needed commercial clout.
  • (20) But if and as it grows, it will give China the clout in regional financing that membership of the ADB has not allowed it to wield, in spite being a generous capital provider to it.

Lout


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To bend; to box; to stoop.
  • (n.) A clownish, awkward fellow; a bumpkin.
  • (v. t.) To treat as a lout or fool; to neglect; to disappoint.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Gordon Brown's speech played deliberately and directly to the very real fears of many of those people, whether on drunken louts in the high street or teenage mums or financial insecurity, but the paper ignores all that and lands the blow it has been planning for months.
  • (2) After his meeting with De Villepin, Boubakeur launched a veiled attack on the minister's outbursts, in which he called the disaffected young men on estates 'louts'.
  • (3) Lager louts now have nine months' notice in which to lay in supplies.
  • (4) If in the past the 'louts' were forgotten, it looks like they could now be used as pawns by France's politicians.
  • (5) This was analysed in an equally masterful manner in Que La Bête Meure (The Beast Must Die, 1969) and Le Boucher, both featuring Yanne as, respectively, a nouveau-riche lout who kills a child in a hit-and-run accident, and an emotionally disturbed man who pays court to an equally lonely and repressed schoolmistress (Audran).
  • (6) A recurring encounter between a Muslim cabbie and a lager lout is also deftly played, particularly by Raymond, and surprising.
  • (7) It is clear that in many parts of the world constituted by Australian trade union officials, there is room for louts, thugs, bullies, thieves, perjurers, those who threaten violence, errant fiduciaries and organisers of boycotts,” it said.
  • (8) There he is confronted by a gang of Indian tea louts who - over-stimulated by the Assam - take offence at the honky Norman wearing an Indian cricket shirt and the flag painted on his pallid white face.
  • (9) Put this way, it is easy to imagine another life where the po-faced Islamist preacher Abu Waleed is a beer-swilling lout hurling abuse from the terraces of his underperforming team.
  • (10) The vandalism has simply taken a new turn in the last few days because they feel provoked by [Interior Minister] Nicolas Sarkozy's comments about "louts".
  • (11) Opening night film Café Society (Woody Allen, US) In competition The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi, Iran) Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, German) Julieta (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain) American Honey (Andrea Arnold, UK) Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas, France) The Unknown Girl (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium) It’s Only the End of the World (Xavier Dolan, Canada) Ma Loute (Bruno Dumont, France) Paterson (Jim Jarmusch, US) Rester Vertical (Alain Guiraudie, France) Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil) Mal de Pierres (Nicole Garcia, Algeria) I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, UK) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake.
  • (12) A source, described as a friend, told the Sun that the “entirely random” attack began when a “group of local louts”, with whom the group had no previous contact, appeared “out of nowhere” and one of them punched Márquez in the face.
  • (13) She was caught in the crossfire between me and the louts, and I railroaded her; she left quietly not long afterwards.
  • (14) It has always been said that he did away with Loadsamoney as soon as he realised, to his horror, that Essex boys had mistaken the obnoxious lout for a hero.
  • (15) • Dominic Grieve, the attorney general, has said that f louting European judges over prisoner voting would risk international "anarchy".
  • (16) In the case of a third offence, law-breakers may be made to wear a sign reading “I am a litter lout”.