in the air

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Uncertain or unsettled, with an outcome pending

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Không chắc chắn hoặc chưa được giải quyết, với kết quả đang chờ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: suspended or floating in the atmosphere
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

There's a sense of excitement in the air as the concert approaches

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “in the air” mean?

Uncertain or unsettled, with an outcome pending Literally: suspended or floating in the atmosphere

Is “in the air” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.