into thin air

Idioms  

1. Also, into the blue. Completely disappeared, as in The report was here on my desk and now it's gone, vanished into thin air, or I don't know where they've gone—into the blue, for all I know. Both of these hyperbolic expressions, often preceded by vanish as in the first example, use the rarefied atmosphere far above the earth as a metaphor for an unknown location. Shakespeare wrote of ghosts that “melted . . . into thin air” (The Tempest, 4:1). An antonym for both is out of thin air, meaning “from an unknown place or source.” For example, She made up this excuse out of thin air, or The car appeared out of thin air. However, out of the blue is not precisely an antonym (see under out of a clear blue sky).

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

into thin air

Nine years ago, an Indian student vanished into thin air.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2025

Two others, Bobby Mills and Mickey Gervaise, were thought to be on board - although afterwards they disappeared into "thin air", the police investigation found.

From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2024

In one scene, an immigrant who is denied a visa vanishes into thin air; Alejandro’s own journey through the system is rendered as an infinite, architectural maze.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2024

Her $990 Margiela Mary-Jane Tabis have vanished into thin air like a fairy godmother after she grants all wishes.

From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2023

"But they have to be somewhere. Things can't just disappear into thin air."

From "The Cinderella Ballet Mystery: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #4" by Carolyn Keene