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Showing results for out to lunch. Search instead for out+to+lunch.
Synonyms

out to lunch

Idioms  

  1. Not in touch with the real world, crazy; also, inattentive. For example, If he believes that story, he's really out to lunch, or Anne hasn't heard a word you said—she's out to lunch. This expression transfers a temporary physical absence for the purpose of eating to a temporary or permanent mental absence. [Slang; mid-1900s]

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.

Dick Wolf took me out to lunch and persuaded me that it was a really good idea.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2024

“They’ve been out to lunch for a long time,” Robinson said.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 10, 2023

The comic took her and her family out to lunch the following month after Ms Nuttall was told the tumour had grown back and the family later brought Christmas forward after news it had spread.

From BBC • May 22, 2023

It "did not make money because people understood the science was so out to lunch," Emory University Physics Professor Sidney Perkowitz proclaimed at the time.

From Salon • Feb. 5, 2023

He slowly slipped the pages into his science notebook and waited for the rest of the kids to rush out to lunch.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

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.