to fall off someone's radar - Glite Dictionary

Examples

Since the project ended, many of the team members have fallen off my radar.
You said she got back with her ex and fell off your radar.

When We First Met (2018)
After moving to a new city, he felt like he fell off everyone's radar.

Synonyms

to disappear

vsto fall off someone's radar

∞ 1.0

To stop being seen or to no longer be there

is about becoming less noticed or important, not total absence

to go away

vsto fall off someone's radar

463 1.0

To stop being seen or felt

is about loss of attention or importance rather than only physical absence

to vanish

vsto fall off someone's radar

421 3.0

Disappear suddenly and completely for no clear reason

is about gradual loss of notice or importance, not sudden mysterious disappearance

to lose sight of

vsto fall off someone's radar

87 3.5

To stop being able to see a person or thing because something blocks your view

is about fading from attention or importance, not literal visual loss

to fade away

vsto fall off someone's radar

69 3.0

To become weaker and then disappear over time

is about becoming less noticed or important rather than total disappearance

to drift away

vsto fall off someone's radar

15 4.5

To slowly lose contact and closeness with someone

is about becoming less noticed or important rather than losing personal closeness

to fly under the radar

vsto fall off someone's radar

Informal

9 5.9

To avoid being noticed by other people

is more about loss of attention or importance than deliberate invisibility

to disappear into thin air

vsto fall off someone's radar

Informal

8 4.4

To vanish suddenly with no trace

is about becoming less noticed or important over time, not sudden unexplained vanishing

to drop off the radar

vsto fall off someone's radar

Informal

1 7.5

To stop being seen or heard from by others

is becoming less noticed or important to someone rather than briefly inactive

to slip under the radar

vsto fall off someone's radar

Informal

1 6.3

To go unnoticed by people or officials

is about becoming less noticed or important to someone, not just avoiding detection

How Noticeable

to grab someone's attention

3 3.3

to draw attention

71 2.5

noticed

1.0

to fall off someone's radar

7.4

to sneak away

Informal

17 3.6

Surface Forms

fall off someone's radar infinitive

falling off someone's radar present participle

falls off someone's radar third person singular

fell off someone's radar past

fallen off someone's radar past participle

Morphology

fall + off + someone's + radar

The parts 'fall' + 'off' + 'radar' literally suggest 'no longer detected', so a learner who knows the words can partially infer that it means to stop being noticed. However, the use of 'radar' as a metaphor for someone's attention or awareness is figurative and may not be immediately obvious to an average B1 learner without exposure, so the relation is only partly predictable.

Etymology

Fall off someone's radar may come from the image of a radar screen, where something that falls off the screen is no longer shown on the radar to the person watching. So, it now means 'become less seen or less important to someone'.