space cadet
1
8.6
- noun
- /speɪs kəˈdɛt/
- Offensive
:
despistado
- He always forgets his keys; he's such a space cadet sometimes.
Maybe, maybe she was like totally like had like space cadet in her interview.
- Maybe, maybe she was like totally like had like space cadet in her interview.
Examples
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During the meeting, she was staring out the window like a complete space cadet.
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Don't be a space cadet; pay attention to the road while driving.
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Hey, uh, space cadet, you wanna come back down to Earth?
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You okay there, space cadet?
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Well, we're all space cadets here.
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What a space cadet I am, huh?
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The man's a space cadet!
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The man's a space cadet.
Fiction book (1992) -
They think our family's a bunch of space cadets.
-
Why do you think he's been having these headaches, acting like a space cadet?
Synonyms
A person who often loses focus and daydreams
Antonyms
How Distracted
- Offensive
1
7.0
- Offensive
1
8.6
1
3.3
1
5.8
61
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
space + cadet
The literal parts 'space' and 'cadet' do not straightforwardly combine to mean 'absent-minded', but 'space' can evoke the familiar slang sense 'spacey' or 'spacing out', so a learner might guess a related meaning. 'Cadet' adds little semantically and the phrase is informal/slangy and metaphorical, so its meaning is only partially predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Space cadet paints a picture of a trainee astronaut who is so lost in thought it looks like they are floating in space. The word cadet suggests a young trainee, so the phrase now means 'absent-minded' or 'not paying attention'.