dead air
5
6.3
- noun
- /dɛd ɛr/
- Literature
:
silencio
- "We're running dead air."
- fill dead air
- talk to dead air
- got dead air
I mean, I am never afraid of dead air.
- I mean, I am never afraid of dead air.
Examples
-
"Hello," I said to dead air.
Fiction book (1992) -
All I'm getting is dead air, so to speak.
-
And you know how much I hate dead air.
-
Yeah, just trying to fill that dead air.
-
- I'm sorry for the dead air.
-
This is dead air, Barry.
-
I listened to dead air for a moment, unable to figure out what to say to an answering machine.
Fiction book (1995) -
Grant, I can't have dead air.
-
This is dead air.
-
During the live broadcast, there was an embarrassing moment of dead air when the host lost his train of thought.
Synonyms
660
2.0
A period with no sound or speech
18
5.2
A period when a person or group does not communicate
11
6.0
A short time when radio or TV stops broadcasting
Antonyms
How Silent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun combines 'dead' (inactive, silent) with 'air' (broadcast/on the air) so the meaning — a period on the air with no sound — is a direct figurative composition of the constituents. A B1 learner who knows both words (including 'air' in the broadcasting sense) can readily infer this meaning, so it is transparent.
Etymology
Dead air comes from radio and TV broadcasting. The word air here means the space that carries the sound, and dead means without life or sound, so the picture is an empty, silent gap on the broadcast. That's why dead air now means an unplanned period of silence or a 'mistake' during a show.