Definition

1. Adjective phrase:
   • To be completely without news or information: Describes a state where there is a total absence of communication or updates from a person or about a situation over a significant period. It implies a complete loss of contact.
   • To have lost all trace: Indicates that someone or something has disappeared without leaving any information about their whereabouts or status.

Usage Examples

• Adjective phrase:
  • Anh ấy đi nước ngoài đã mười năm rồi và tuyệt vô âm tín. (He went abroad ten years ago and has been completely without a trace.)
  • Sau trận bão, nhiều ngư dân vẫn tuyệt vô âm tín. (After the storm, many fishermen remain completely out of contact.)

Advanced Usage

• This phrase is often used in formal or literary contexts, such as in news reports, literature, or serious narratives, to emphasize a profound and worrying lack of communication.

Variants and Related Words

• Bặt vô âm tín (adj. phrase): to be silent, to have no news. A slightly less intense synonym.

  • Công ty đối tác bặt vô âm tín suốt tuần qua. (The partner company has been silent for the past week.)

• Mất liên lạc (v. phrase): to lose contact. A more common, general phrase.

  • Chúng tôi đã mất liên lạc với trung tâm chỉ huy. (We have lost contact with the command center.)

Synonyms

• Out of contact: Having no communication.
• Missing without a trace: Having disappeared with no information.
• Incommunicado: Not able to be contacted (often by choice).

Related Idioms

• Biệt tích: to disappear, to vanish. Often used in legal or official contexts.

  • Người đàn ông đó đã biệt tích từ tháng trước. (That man vanished last month.)

• Mất hút: to disappear without a trace (more colloquial).

  • Chiếc máy bay nhỏ đã mất hút trên radar. (The small plane disappeared from radar.)