off the air

Idioms

Not being broadcast, as in Once they knew they were off the air, the panelists burst out laughing. This idiom, along with the antonym on the air (“being broadcast”), dates from the 1920s, air being considered a medium for radio-wave transmission.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“All I did was turn off the air conditioning,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times

But if CBS execs lose their patience, it’s conceivable that the network can pull him off the air and use guest hosts until the end of the program’s run.

From Los Angeles Times

Anatel said Rumble should again be off the air in a few days.

From Barron's

“MTV is going off the air at midnight tonight . . . man. There was a time when MTV was THE channel to be watching on New Year’s Eve,” rued one Bluesky user.

From Salon

How did so many come to believe that a premier pop culture brand would quietly go off the air without every major news outlet making a fuss, considering the countless obituaries that sent off MTV News when it shut down in 2023?

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023