out of thin air
Without any source
Out of thin air describes something appearing or being created seemingly from nothing, as if materializing from empty space.
The phrase emphasizes the sudden, unexpected, or inexplicable nature of an appearance or invention: The solution came to me out of thin air.
It often carries connotations of magic or impossibility, since air—thin or otherwise—cannot actually produce tangible things.
The opposite construction, vanish into thin air, describes something disappearing just as mysteriously.
- unexpectedlyWithout prior indication
- appearanceOutward visible form
- wizardryPractice of casting spells
- conjuringPerforming magical illusions
- sleight of handSkillful manual deception
magic · illusion · smoke and mirrors · vanish · suddenly · fabricate · creative accounting · miracle · serendipity · apparition · surprise · magic trick · manifest · emergence · materialization · generate · fantasy · phenomenon
out of thin airover time
Across a duration
step by step · from the ground up · organically · incrementally · brick by brick
out of thin airover time
Across a duration
step by step · incrementally · bit by bit · by degrees · organically
out of thin airwith good reason
well-founded · substantiated · on solid ground · empirically
thin, outing, outer, outward, outwardly, thinner, thinnest, thinly, thinness