out-of-body

[out-uhv-bod-ee]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characterized by the dissociative sensation of perceiving oneself from an external vantage point, as though the mind or soul has left the body and is acting on its own.

   an alleged out-of-body experience.

Word History and Origins

Origin of out-of-body¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

“We felt insulated from the whole market reality. It was an out-of-body experience. We just sat and watched the people pass and talked about what might happen next. How many of these people were going to lose their jobs? Who was going to rent these buildings, after all the Wall Street firms had collapsed?”

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“It was an out-of-body experience.”

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There was a depth to the sound that came close to that of an out-of-body experience.

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For years, scientists dismissed these accounts as fantasy, but are now beginning to think otherwise, that the notion of an out-of-body experience, in which our consciousness delinks from our brains and acts as a receiver of another, universal consciousness, isn’t just science fiction.

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“If you asked me eight years ago, ‘Do you believe in out-of-body experiences,’ I’d attribute it to drug hallucinations.

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