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 towards the end of the assembly.

Examples of zone out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

No wonder the actresses in Valley of the Dolls (1967) zone out on drugs. —Thomas Doherty, HollywoodReporter, 20 Apr. 2025

But there’s still the creepy image of all these people lined up in a church, zoned out on this thing. —William Earl, Variety, 11 Apr. 2025

Dhaka is the only major air export zone out of Bangladesh, with the Chattogram seaport carrying the load for oceangoing exports. —Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 14 Apr. 2025

But all great shows need to change, evolve, and improve upon themselves so that, like so many times in church growing up, the repetition doesn’t cause the parishioners to zone out. —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 9 Apr. 2025

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