dead air

English

Pronunciation

  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

dead air (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic, broadcasting) An unintended interruption in a broadcast during which nothing is transmitted: a silent period on radio or a silent period with no picture on television.
    Synonym: tumbleweed moment
    They fired the production engineer because too many moments of dead air were interrupting the broadcast.
  2. (idiomatic, by extension) A quiet or awkward moment in a conversation where neither individual is speaking.
    Today we're going to try sitting with silence a bit. Don't worry about any moments of dead air in the conversation.
  3. (mechanical, HVAC, engineering) Air that is subject to little or no ventilation, thus, little to no air exchange.
    Sealing up the house so perfectly, without planning for any active ventilation to replace the passive ventilation that you have eliminated, is not a good idea, because it encourages pockets of dead air. If you're going to seal it up so tight, then you need to plan for active ventilation through a filter, rather than no ventilation at all.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

  • “dead air”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
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