not in Kansas anymore

adjective

No longer in quiet and comfortable surroundings.

“As soon as I walked into that party I thought, "I'm not in Kansas anymore."”

Meanings

adjective

alternative not in Kansas any more

  1. UScolloquialidiomaticNo longer in quiet and comfortable surroundings.

    As soon as I walked into that party I thought, "I'm not in Kansas anymore."

    3 more examples

    John Crosbie? A Tory government? You could be forgiven if your first reaction was the feeling that you weren't in Kansas anymore.

    1986 April, Gerald Hannon, “Leaving Kansas”, in The Body Politic, number 125, Pink Triangle Press, page 8

    The police action is rough and raw, like Hill Street Blues. But when a courtroom jury, asked for its verdict, breaks into song, we know we're not in Kansas anymore.

    1990 October 1, “Critics' Voices”, in Time, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2013

    C++ meets all three of these classic criteria of object-orientedness, but once you really start to take advantage of them in your programs, you'll find you're definitely not in Kansas anymore.

    1991 July, Ray Duncan, “Power Programming”, in PC Magazine, page 444

    Synonyms: out of one's depth

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveNo longer in quiet and comfortable surroundings.

Origin

From the film The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which Dorothy states, “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

not in Kansas anymore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20in%20Kansas%20anymore

MLA

“not in Kansas anymore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20in%20Kansas%20anymore. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “not in Kansas anymore,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20in%20Kansas%20anymore.

Source: not in Kansas anymore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.