out of thin air

English

Alternative forms

• from thin air

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adverb

out of thin air (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) From nowhere or nothing; from a non-existent or unknown source.

   They don't seem to want to work to earn a living. They think they can make money out of thin air.

   • 2019 April 6, Caleb Quinley, “Thailand: Anti-military party leader faces sedition charges”, in Al Jazeera‎, Doha: Al Jazeera, retrieved 2019-04-06:

     "The criminal cases against Thanathorn show the military government's contempt for the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful dissent. It's a glaring example of how draconian laws are pulled out of thin air and arbitrarily enforced to punish the prominent opposition leader," he said.

Usage notes

• This is often preceded by verbs such as create, make or conjure.

Synonyms

• out of nowhere

Translations

from non-existent resource

Chinese: 無中生有／无中生有 (zh) (wúzhōng-shēngyǒu) Danish: ud af den blå luft Finnish: tyhjästä French: de nulle part German: aus dem Nichts Italian: fuori dal cilindro, dal nulla Polish: z sufitu Portuguese: do nada (pt) Russian: из воздуха (iz vozduxa) Spanish: de la nada Turkish: yoktan

See also

• pull out of one's ass
• hammerspace
• into thin air
• thin air