into thin air

prepositional phrase

Immediately and inexplicably out of sight.

“He seemed to vanish into thin air.”

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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. idiomaticImmediately and inexplicably out of sight.

    He seemed to vanish into thin air.

    1 more example

    Our Reuels now are ended: Theſe our actors, / (As I foretold you) were all Spirits, and / Are melted into Ayre, into thin Ayre, / And like the baſeleſſe fabricke of this viſion

    1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 15, column 1

Origin

Popularized by Shakespeare, see quotations.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German in Luft (sich in Luft auflösen - to vanish into thin air)
  • in Luft (sich in Luft auflösen - to vanish into thin air)Translations
Polish jak kamień w wodę
  • jak kamień w wodęTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

into thin air. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/into%20thin%20air

MLA

“into thin air.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/into%20thin%20air. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “into thin air,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/into%20thin%20air.

Source: into thin air on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.