tune out
Britishverb
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Adjust a receiver so as not to receive a signal, as in Let's tune out all this interference . [Early 1900s]
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Dissociate oneself from one's surroundings; also, disregard, ignore. For example, The average reader, used to seeing lots of color images, tunes out when confronted with big blocks of text , or Some mothers are expert at tuning out the children's whining and quarreling . [1920s] For an antonym, see tune in .
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.
You have to make sure that that is one hell of an immersive experience, because it’s not like you could just have an audience member tune out if they don’t like the Dunk story this week.
From Los Angeles Times
Is it hard or easy for you to tune out — By the way, the women at school are lovely and I’m obsessed with all of them.
From Los Angeles Times
Jonah didn’t want to admit how hard he’d been working to tune out everything Katherine had tried to tell him.
From Literature
Saylor told his investors the only way to handle the downturn is to hold on—and tune out the market’s volatility.
Today most American households have two working parents, so once they’re home there’s plenty to do and little opportunity to tune out the world.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
