out to lunch

The phrase "out to lunch" is often used idiomatically to describe someone who is not paying attention or is out of touch with reality.

πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ US Voice:
πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ UK Voice:

Definition

B1Workplace

(literal)Temporarily away from one's place of work, typically during the midday meal period.

Example

  • She's out to lunch and will be back in an hour.

B2General

(idiomatic)Mentally distracted or not aware of what is happening.

Example

  • I tried to explain the problem, but he seemed completely out to lunch.

B2General

(idiomatic)Out of touch with reality or acting irrationally.

Example

  • Her ideas are so strange, it's like she's out to lunch.

Similar

Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "out to lunch":

lunch outout of touchout of lineout of one's mindout of itout of townoff the railsfar outspaced outout of sortsout of ordernot with itout of stepout of workout of the picturedown and outout the window