into thin air
26
6.3
- idiom
:
sin dejar rastro
- After the storm, the lost ship seemed to have vanished into thin air without a trace.
- vanish into thin air
- evaporate into thin air
Its light dies away within it, and it vanishes like a shapeless vapor that dissolves into thin air.
- Its light dies away within it, and it vanishes like a shapeless vapor that dissolves into thin air.
Examples
-
Ionesco isn't anywhere to be found; he's vanished into thin air.
Fiction book (1998) -
Even the station wagon loaded with his few possessions seemed to vanish into thin air.
Fiction book (2002) -
Well, the client disappeared into thin air, and I have since not been able to get in touch with the client.
-
I saw this body disappear into thin air.
-
I thought they disappeared into thin air.
-
Two people have disappeared into thin air.
-
It's just disappeared into thin air.
-
And now your friend who lives here, uh, the one from Texas, he has disappeared into thin air.
-
He's disappeared into thin air without leaving a trace for us to follow.
Fiction book (1990) -
We, too, were astonished at the number of expeditions that had simply vanished into thin air.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
65
2.8
You cannot see it from here
1
8.4
Suddenly disappears without a clear reason
Suddenly and completely as if by magic
Antonyms
How Gone
Surface Forms
Morphology
The words 'thin' and 'air' evoke insubstantial, hardly perceptible space, so a learner who knows the constituents can infer a metaphorical sense of moving into nothingness. However, the exact idiomatic sense 'disappear completely without a trace' is an extended metaphorical use rather than a literal composition and depends on conventional usage, making the phrase only partially predictable to B1 learners.
Etymology
Into thin air creates the image of someone stepping into very thin air, as if the air is so empty there is nothing to hold or see them and they simply vanish. That's why it means 'to disappear completely'.