out to lunch

1. Not in touch with the real world, crazy; also, inattentive. For example, If he believes that story, he's really out to lunch, or Anne hasn't heard a word you said—she's out to lunch. This expression transfers a temporary physical absence for the purpose of eating to a temporary or permanent mental absence. [Slang; mid-1900s]

Example Sentences

Office workers out to lunch got an impromptu lesson on its parts.

From Los Angeles Times

To hear our national leaders tell it, Los Angeles is in chaos and our governor and mayor are out to lunch with the police, blissfully ignoring reality as the city burns.

From Los Angeles Times

"There's already a rat infestation around here now. They are coming out to lunch every day," he said.

From BBC

Maybe that happened before COVID, but now the stuff he's saying, it's just completely out to lunch.

From Salon

"He picked on a few boys within that group, befriend us, invited us back out to lunch at his family home and slowly over the years became a sort of father figure to me."

From BBC

Related Words

• dull 
• dumb 
• foolish 
• futile 
• ill-advised 
• irrelevant 
• laughable 
• ludicrous 
• naive 
• senseless 
• shortsighted 
• simple 
• trivial