out to lunch

adjective

Away eating lunch or for a midday break; especially, away from work or a job.

“She's out to lunch right now, but you may leave her a note.”

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Meanings

adjectiveout to lunch (not comparable)
  1. not comparableAway eating lunch or for a midday break; especially, away from work or a job.

    She's out to lunch right now, but you may leave her a note.

  2. idiomaticinformalnot comparableClueless, inattentive, or careless.

    After he drove with his turn signal on for five miles, I was pretty sure he was out to lunch.

    2 more examples

    Zaphod Beeblebrox, adventurer, ex-hippy, good-timer, (crook? quite possibly), manic self-publicist, terribly bad at personal relationships, often thought to be completely out to lunch.

    1979, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

    But then along came this biter / And he was so out of touch / So completely self indulgent / Just so out to lunch

    2002, “Along Came a Biter”, in Temporary Forever, performed by Busdriver

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
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Cite this entry
APA

out to lunch. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20to%20lunch

MLA

“out to lunch.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20to%20lunch. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “out to lunch,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20to%20lunch.

Source: out to lunch on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.