Idiom
Under the radar
If something happens or stays under the radar, it goes unnoticed or attracts little attention, whether on purpose or by chance.
How people use it
People use it for quiet projects, little-known products and people who avoid attention (the band stayed under the radar until one song took off online). Common verbs include fly, stay, keep and slip. It can be neutral, describing something simply overlooked, or slightly suspicious, suggesting someone is avoiding notice on purpose. Before a noun it is often hyphenated (an under-the-radar hit).
Also said: fly under the radar, stay under the radar.
Examples
- The little cafe flew under the radar for years before a food blog made it famous.
- Omar likes to stay under the radar at big parties and talk to just a few people.
- A small change to the rules slipped under the radar until parents started asking questions.
Where it comes from
Radar, developed in the 1930s and widely used in World War II, detects aircraft by bouncing radio waves off them. Pilots learned that flying very low could keep a plane from being spotted. The figurative use, for avoiding attention of any kind, became common in American English in the late 1900s.
Check yourself
1. What does it mean if a new restaurant is under the radar?
Answer: Few people know about it yet. Under the radar means unnoticed or not widely known.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: The shy student stayed under the radar during the first weeks of school.. Staying quiet and unnoticed fits. A loud parade is the opposite, and the pilot sentence is literal.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in RADAR.