dead air

Definition

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.

Example Sentences

• "They fired the production engineer because too many moments of dead air were interrupting the broadcast."
• "Today we're going to try sitting with silence a bit. Don't worry about any moments of dead air in the conversation."
• "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."