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Meetings & Communicationnoun · /ded er/

dead air

In simple English

Dead air occurs in video calls, conference meetings, and presentations when there is an awkward period of silence. In tech meetings, dead air often happens when someone asks a question and no one responds immediately, or when a presenter finishes speaking and waits for feedback. It can make meetings feel uncomfortable and may indicate confusion, technical issues, or lack of engagement from participants. In remote work environments, dead air is especially noticeable on video calls because participants cannot see visual cues that would normally indicate someone is thinking or about to speak. Team leads often try to avoid dead air by preparing discussion topics in advance, encouraging people to unmute and respond, or breaking silence with follow-up questions. The term is borrowed from radio and television broadcasting, where dead air means no sound is being transmitted. Tech professionals recognize dead air as a communication challenge and often address it proactively in meetings by creating psychological safety for people to speak up, asking direct questions to specific people, or using chat functions to allow written responses when oral communication feels too pressured.

Users want to understand what dead air means in meetings and how to avoid it in professional settings.

At a glanceCEFR B2
Commonness4/5
Versatility3/5
FormalityCasualFormalCasual
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenSpoken
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticDirect
RegionUS and UK
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Say it like this

✓We need to fill the dead air with more discussion.
✓There was a lot of dead air on that call.
✓Let us avoid dead air by preparing talking points ahead of time.

Real examples

in a standup meeting

"After Sarah asked about the deployment timeline, there was dead air for ten seconds before anyone answered."

in a client call

"The product demo ended with dead air because nobody knew it was time to ask questions."

in a presentation

"The presenter paused for audience questions, but dead air filled the room until someone finally spoke up."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Dead air refers to silence in communication, not pausing to think. Do not use it to mean a break or pause where someone is collecting their thoughts.

✕The engineer took dead air to think about the solution.
✓The engineer paused to think about the solution.— Dead air refers to unwanted silence in group settings, not individual thinking time. Use pause or a moment instead.
✕We dead aired during the meeting.
✓There was dead air during the meeting.— Dead air is a noun describing silence, not a verb. You cannot do dead air. You can experience it or have it occur.
✕The dead air lasted only a few seconds, so it was fine.
✓The brief silence lasted only a few seconds, so it was not awkward.— Dead air specifically implies uncomfortable or awkward silence. A natural pause is not dead air.

Other forms

noun

dead air

"We encountered dead air when the client did not respond to our proposal summary."

noun phrase

a moment of dead air

"A moment of dead air hung over the virtual meeting after the announcement."

Often used with

fill the dead airTo eliminate silence by speaking or providing content; commonly used when someone breaks silence in a meeting
awkward dead airEmphasizes the uncomfortable nature of the silence; often used to describe particularly tense moments
avoid dead airTo plan communication in advance to prevent awkward silences; used when discussing meeting strategies
dead air on the callSilence occurring during a video or phone call; common in remote work contexts

Similar words

awkward silenceMore explicit about discomfort; dead air is more specific to media and professional settings
uncomfortable pauseLess formal; awkward silence and pause are more general alternatives
lull in conversationLess negative; a lull may be intentional, whereas dead air is typically unwanted

Opposites

engagementactive discussionproductive conversation

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Pick the most natural phrasing

1. You are leading a meeting and there is uncomfortable silence after you ask a question. Which sentence sounds most natural?

Complete the sentence

2. To prevent _______ in our remote meetings, we should prepare discussion topics in advance.

Spot the mistake

3. Which sentence uses 'dead air' incorrectly?

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite this sentence using 'dead air': 'During the retrospective, nobody spoke for a long time, which felt uncomfortable.'

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "dead air" in a standup this week?

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