up in the air
air
verb
uk /eər/ us /er/

airverb (MAKE KNOWN)

[ T ]
to make opinions or complaints known to other people: 说出，公开，亮出（观点等）
air a grievancePutting a complaint in the suggestions box is one way of airing your grievances.有什么怨言写出来放在意见箱里，这是一种发泄不满的方式。
air your viewsHe'll air his views on the war, whether people want to listen or not.不管人们是否愿意听，他都要说出他对战争的看法。

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Remarks & remarking
annotate
annotation
annotator
aside
backbite
backbiting
barb
commentary
descant
dog whistle
felicity
innuendo
line
mention
observation
parting shot
platitude
profundity
sideswipe
zinger

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Expressing and asking opinions

airverb (DRY)

[ I or T ]
to become dry and/or fresh, or to cause to become dry and/or fresh: （使）晾干，（使）风干;（使）烘干;（使）通风
My mother always airs the sheets before she makes the beds.我妈妈在铺床之前总是先把床单烘干。
Leave the windows open to let the room air a bit.开着窗户，让房间通通风。

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Cleaning & tidying places & things
adjust
airing
bed
bioremediation
clean something out
dust
dusting
freshen
freshen (someone/something) up
going-over
Hoover
muck
re-rack
sandblast
smarten (someone/something) up
spiff someone/something up
spit and polishidiom
spruce
tidy
valet

airverb (BROADCAST)

[ I or T ]US
to broadcast something or be broadcast on radio or television: 广播，播出，播送
be aired liveThe game will be aired live on CBS at 7.00 tonight.今晚7点，哥伦比亚广播公司将现场直播这场比赛。
The interview with the president will air tomorrow morning.对总统的采访将在明天早晨播出。

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Broadcasting in general
airplay
airtime
airwaves
announcement
audio described
audio description
edition
executive producer
ham radio
headline
interchannel
podcast
producer
retune
scheduler
serialization
serialize
showrunner
transmission
tune

airverb (IGNORE)

[ T ]informal
to intentionally ignore or not answer someone:
Why is he airing me?
You asked a question and you got aired.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Neglecting and ignoring
aside
beneath the/someone's radaridiom
block something out
brush
brush someone/something off
bury/have your head in the sandidiom
ear
let sleeping dogs lieidiom
let something rideidiom
look straight/right through someoneidiom
lose the dressing roomidiom
lost
nose
sleeping beauty
slightingly
snub
someone's back is turnedidiom
step
step on someone
wink

air | American Dictionary

air
noun
us/eər/

airnoun (GAS)

[ U ]
the mixture of gases that surrounds the earth and that we breathe:
Let’s go outside for some fresh air.
[ U ]
Air pressure is the force that air produces when it presses against any surface.

airnoun (SPACE ABOVE)

[ U ]
the space above, esp. high above, the ground:
Keith kicked the football high in the air.

airnoun (FLIGHT)

[ U ]
flight above the ground, esp. in an aircraft:
air travel
You can get there by train, but it’s faster by air.

airnoun (MANNER)

[ C ]
a manner or appearance:
She had an air of confidence.

airnoun (BROADCAST)

 on the air
a program or a person on the air is broadcasting on radio or television:
His show is on the air from 8:00 to 8:30 every Tuesday night.
 off the air
A program or person that is not broadcasting on radio or television is off the air.
air
verb
us/er, ær/

airverb (BROADCAST)

[ I/T ]
to broadcast something on radio or television:
[ T ]The game will be aired at 9 p.m. tomorrow.

airverb (MAKE KNOWN)

[ T ]
to make your opinions or complaints known to other people:
The meeting gave us a chance to air our complaints.

airverb (CLEAN)

[ I/T ]
to let air from outside come in a room or other inside space to make it smell cleaner, or to put something outside in the air to make it smell cleaner:
[ M ]Let’s open some windows and air out this place.

airing

noun[ C ]us/ˈer·ɪŋ, ˈær-/
The third airing of the miniseries will begin next week.

air | Business English

air
noun[ U ]
uk /eər/us
 by air
TRANSPORT
travelling by or using planes:
arrive/travel by air25% of the state's economy is fueled by tourists who travel by air.
deliver/send/ship sth by airThe company adds a surcharge for express packages delivered by air.
 up in the air
if a matter is up in the air, it is uncertain and no final decision has been made about it:
The future of the company has been up in the air since one of its key shareholders was compelled to sell its stake.

Examples of air

air
That percentages of air being used add up to one unit of air is purely arbitrary.
As industrial production has fallen so have associated negative externalities, leading to reductions in air, water, soil, and noise pollution.
The ducted exhaust of 'vitiated air' was removed through grilles near or in the ceiling.
Temperatures regimes are also different in gaps, with higher soil and air temperatures during the day, and cooler temperatures at night.
However, soil and air temperatures were not significantly different between burned and unburned areas.
The endoscopes may then be dried by either purging with dry air or flushing with 70% alcohol.
It is also not unique in suffering high levels of air and water pollution and facing severe threats to its biological resources.
The evolution of the turbulent velocity field in these air data is far more coherent than were such measurements in water.
Subsequently, saltation begins when particles move vertically into the air by a distance of the order of their diameter.
Each drop of rain changes the form; even the wind and the air itself, invisible to our eyes, etches its presence.
Currently, allowed emission standards have been set for 28 air pollutants and 29 water pollutants.
All samples were air-dried and sieved to pass through 2 mm mesh.
In addition, one of the engines drove a high-pressure fan that forced foul air from the refuse on the tipping platform across the fire.
His pockets had to be emptied of doofers from time to time, and aired.
The pilots have earlier received clearance from an air traffic controller to taxi to the runway.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations withair

air

These are words often used in combination with air.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

air attack
Such airattack is said to be pressed home at levels determined by military considerations only.
From the
Hansard archive