space out

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

space out (third-person singular simple present spaces out, present participle spacing out, simple past and past participle spaced out)

1. (transitive) To position (objects, people etc.) at regular intervals with a calculated space between them.
   • 2022 October 5, Lauren Harby, “What We Know About Celine Dion's Health Battle”, in The List‎^[1]:

     Dion's first Las Vegas residency […] went on from 2003 to 2007, with a total of 714 shows […] [Her] second residency was more spaced out, with 427 shows. This allowed Dion to tour internationally during the pockets of time when she wasn't performing in Vegas.

2. (intransitive, idiomatic) To become distracted or disoriented; to lose attention or focus.

   Synonyms: daydream, tune out, zone out

   • 1999, Mike Judge, Office Space (motion picture), spoken by Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston):

     Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door - that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh heh - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.

Derived terms

• spaced-out

Translations

to position at regular intervals with a calculated space between them

• Finnish: sijoittaa tasaisin välein
• Irish: agaigh
• Portuguese: dar um espaço

to lose attention

• Finnish: haaveilla (fi), antaa huomion herpaantua
• Italian: distrarsi (it)
• Portuguese: distrair-se, desorientar-se

Anagrams

• outpaces, paces out, saucepot