tune out

verb

tuned out; tuning out; tunes out

transitive verb

: to become unresponsive to : ignore

intransitive verb

: to dissociate oneself from what is happening or one's surroundings

Examples of tune out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Shortly after the festival, a source close to the couple, who tied the knot in 2018, said that the pair is trying to tune out the noise. Michelle Lee, People.com, 13 May 2025 But readers who had obsessively tracked Trump’s four convulsive years in office were ready to tune out the relative normalcy of the Biden White House; the Post lost about three hundred thousand subscribers in the first year of Biden’s Presidency. Clare Malone, New Yorker, 12 May 2025 Instead, try to tune out the noise, and stay grounded in your long-term financial plan which is designed to weather financial uncertainty. Marni Rose McFall, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 May 2025 Another factor: our brains tend to tune out the appearance of familiar, everyday objects, in a phenomenon called attentional blindness. Matt Fuchs, Time, 21 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for tune out

Word History

First Known Use

1908, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of tune out was in 1908

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Tune out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tune%20out. Accessed 18 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

tune out

verb
: to stop paying attention to what is happening or to one's surroundings
thinking about the work and tuning everything else out

More from Merriam-Webster on tune out

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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