radio silence

American  

[rey-dee-oh sahy-luhns] / ˈreɪ diˌoʊ ˈsaɪ ləns /

noun

1. a state or period of time in which radios are not transmitting signals: The week’s stormy weather has caused local radio silence.

   The planes were required to maintain radio silence until their mission was accomplished.

   The week’s stormy weather has caused local radio silence.

2. a period of time in which a person or organization is not communicating as usual.

   Sorry for the radio silence, but from now on my blog posts will be more regular.

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Other Word Forms

• radio silent adjective

Etymology

Origin of radio silence

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

But each application was met with either radio silence or a rejection.

From BBC

“Nobody was there to really answer what I could do to improve, to do better on my next application. It was just radio silence.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“They are getting absolute radio silence and becoming increasingly desperate to stand out,” Ben Tobin, a career coach in Portland, Ore., said of the computer-science graduates he helps.

From The Wall Street Journal

Such dry spells have marked singer-songwriters like Fiona Apple and Lorde, who throughout their careers have sustained several years-long periods of radio silence between albums.

From Los Angeles Times

Neri and I usually text and talk all day, but with Brad Pitt there, it’s like radio silence from 10 in the morning to 10 at night; she doesn’t respond.

From The Wall Street Journal