up in the air

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Idioms and Phrases

Not settled, uncertain, as in The proposal to build a golf course next to the airport is still up in the air . This metaphoric expression likens something floating in the air to an unsettled matter. Put as in the air from the mid-1700s, it acquired up in the first half of the 1900s.

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Example Sentences

Hunter says his role in the NFL is "still up in the air" and "up to the organisation" which drafts him, as each seems to have a different idea of how best to utilise him.

From BBC

Best actor may also be up in the air.

From BBC

"I want to have an answer for you. I want to say names like Harris Dickinson or Leo Woodall and say, yes, it's going to be them. But it's all up in the air."

From BBC

The change left the fate of the 10 projects already on the books up in the air, kicking off more than a year of intense politicking and legal fights.

From Los Angeles Times

“It felt like I was at the Super Bowl and the photos were like confetti, but instead of coming down, they were flying up in the air,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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