Word.ws English Dictionary

the lights are on, but nobody's home

the lights are on, but nobody's home phrase: somebody is conscious or paying attention, but failing to understand.

Phrase

the lights are on, but nobody's home

  1. (colloquial, humorous) Somebody is conscious or paying attention, but failing to understand.

Forms of the lights are on, but nobody's home

alternative formthe lights are on but nobody's home
alternative formthe lights are on but no one's home

Questions about the lights are on, but nobody's home

What does the lights are on, but nobody's home mean?
The lights are on, but nobody's home means somebody is conscious or paying attention, but failing to understand.
What part of speech is the lights are on, but nobody's home?
The lights are on, but nobody's home is a phrase.

Words near the lights are on, but nobody's home in the dictionary

  1. the length of the Flemington straight
  2. The Lick
  3. the life out of
  4. the lights are on but no one's home
  5. the lights are on but nobody's home
  6. the lights are on, but nobody's home
  7. the line is busy
  8. the living daylights out of
  9. the living shit out of
  10. the long and short
  11. the long and the short

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the lights are on, but nobody's home (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-the lights are on, but nobody's home.wav.

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