zone out

verb

zoned out; zoning out; zones out

intransitive verb

1

US, informal : to become oblivious to one's surroundings especially in order to relax

zone out in front of the TV

2

US, informal : to become unfocused or inattentive because of tiredness or boredom

Students began to zone out toward the end of the assembly.

Examples of zone out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

What about relaxing or zoning out? —Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 31 Mar. 2026

But ultimately, there’s nothing more appealing than a straight guy who can genuinely queen out about the important things in life (the aforementioned celeb goss, duh) without zoning out or seeming patronizing. —Emma Specter, Vogue, 30 Mar. 2026

The Wichita State transfer drilled a breaking ball at the bottom of the zone out to right-center field for a grand slam, Texas' second of the weekend. —David Eckert, Austin American Statesman, 8 Mar. 2026

In a possible foreshadowing of the teenage years to come, Timberlake and his boys zoned out while playing video games. —Andrea Wurzburger, PEOPLE, 31 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

of uncertain origin

Note: Attested slightly earlier is zoned "intoxicated." Zone out is perhaps in part by analogy with zone in, in part after space out, given the relative semantic proximity of space and zone. Note also that zoned is phonetically similar to zonked.

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for zone out

• roundabout
• runabout
• sauerkraut
• thereabout
• turnabout
• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout