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Synonyms

tune out

British  

verb

  1. informal to cease to take an interest (in) or pay attention (to)

    many people had tuned out of politics
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
tune out Idioms  

  1. Adjust a receiver so as not to receive a signal, as in Let's tune out all this interference . [Early 1900s]

  2. 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.

But De Zerbi seems to be getting a tune out of these players, so I live in hope.

From BBC • May 12, 2026

Vance will have to tune out the chatter back in Washington to deliver in negotiations with Iran.

From BBC • Apr. 10, 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

The anonymous voter said they try to tune out controversy because "we honor the work and not the personality," but predicted Michael B. Jordan would win the "tight race."

From Barron's • Mar. 15, 2026

He turns up the volume to tune out Mutti.

From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

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.