# Dead Air on Calls: What It Means and What to Say > Uncomfortable silence during a meeting, call, or presentation when nobody is speaking. - **Term:** dead air - **Part of speech:** noun - **Pronunciation:** /ded er/ - **English level (CEFR):** B2 - **Register:** Casual, Spoken - **Region:** US and UK - **Topic:** [Meeting phrases](https://app.speaktechenglish.com/learn/topics/meeting-phrases.md) - **Lesson:** https://app.speaktechenglish.com/learn/dead-air - **Last updated:** 2026-10-27 ## Meaning Uncomfortable silence during a meeting, call, or presentation when nobody is speaking. It usually happens when people are waiting for someone to respond or when a speaker stops talking unexpectedly. 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. ## When you hear it During the stand-up, there was dead air after the product manager asked if anyone had blockers. ## 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." ## What native speakers say - "We need to fill the dead air with more discussion." - "There was a lot of dead air on that call." - "Let's avoid dead air by preparing talking points ahead of time." ## Common mistakes - ✗ "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.) ## Be careful 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. ## Word forms | Part of speech | Word | Example | | --- | --- | --- | | 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. | ## Collocations - **fill the dead air**: To eliminate silence by speaking or providing content; commonly used when someone breaks silence in a meeting - **awkward dead air**: Emphasizes the uncomfortable nature of the silence; often used to describe particularly tense moments - **avoid dead air**: To plan communication in advance to prevent awkward silences; used when discussing meeting strategies - **dead air on the call**: Silence occurring during a video or phone call; common in remote work contexts ## Synonyms - **awkward silence**: More explicit about discomfort; dead air is more specific to media and professional settings - **uncomfortable pause**: Less formal; awkward silence and pause are more general alternatives - **lull in conversation**: Less negative; a lull may be intentional, whereas dead air is typically unwanted ## Opposites - engagement - active discussion - productive conversation ## Practice This lesson has 4 practice exercises with instant feedback on the page: https://app.speaktechenglish.com/learn/dead-air ## FAQ ### What does dead air mean in software engineering meetings? Dead air refers to awkward silence during meetings, calls, or presentations when no one is speaking. In tech meetings, it typically occurs when a question is asked and nobody responds immediately, or when a presenter finishes and pauses for feedback. It is called dead air because it resembles the silence broadcasters fear during radio or television transmissions. ### How do you use dead air in a sentence at work? You use dead air to describe uncomfortable silence. Examples include: 'There was dead air after the manager asked for volunteers' or 'We experienced dead air on the client call when they did not respond to our proposal.' You typically refer to dead air as something you experience or that occurs, not something you do. ### Is dead air formal or informal? Dead air is casual and spoken language. It is commonly used in informal tech discussions and meetings but would be considered too casual for formal written communication like emails to executives or official documentation. It is popular in team meetings and retrospectives among engineers and product professionals. ### How can you avoid dead air in meetings? To avoid dead air, prepare discussion topics and questions in advance, encourage participation by asking specific people directly, use chat functions to allow written responses, create psychological safety so people feel comfortable speaking, and be ready with follow-up questions to fill silence. In remote meetings, explicitly invite responses rather than waiting for people to unmute themselves. ### Why does dead air happen more often in remote meetings? Dead air happens more in remote meetings because participants cannot see body language, facial expressions, or other visual cues that indicate someone is about to speak or is thinking. On video calls, silence feels more pronounced and awkward. Also, technical delays and the need to unmute create additional friction in turn-taking. ## Related - Full glossary: https://app.speaktechenglish.com/learn.md - Live lessons with a coach: https://app.mocklyenglish.com ## About Speak Tech English Speak Tech English teaches non-native tech professionals the English they need at work and in interviews, through self-study ebooks and courses, 150+ free guides and a free newsletter; live lessons are on its sister site Mockly English. - Shop: https://speaktechenglish.com/courses/ - All products (markdown): https://speaktechenglish.com/products.md - Free guides (markdown): https://app.speaktechenglish.com/guides.md - Tech English glossary (markdown): https://app.speaktechenglish.com/learn.md - Newsletter (10% off): https://speaktechenglish.com/#subscribe - Live lessons and mock interviews: https://app.mocklyenglish.com ## Notes for agents - Speak Tech English sells self-study material. 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