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.
Not many were talking about Brazil pre-tournament but Carlo Ancelotti is getting a tune out of them.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
“I want it to be a light in people’s lives. Something they can just put on, tune out the world and have a good time.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
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 ● Feb. 20, 2026
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.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
It amazes me how easy it is to tune out everything else—thoughts of war on Abnegation, Tobias, Caleb, my parents, my friends, my new faction fade away.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
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.
