off
Meanings
- In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point.
- Into a state of non-operation or non-existence.
- So as to remove or separate, or be removed or separated.
- Offstage.
- Used in various other ways specific to individual idiomatic phrases, e.g. bring off, show off, put off, tell off, etc. See the entry for the individual phrase.
- Inoperative, disabled.
- Cancelled; not happening.
- Not fitted; not being worn.
- Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.
- Not correct; not properly formed; not logical, harmonious, etc.
- Inappropriate; untoward.
- Less than normal, in temperament or in result.
- Designating a time when one is not performing to the best of one's abilities.
- Rancid, rotten, gone bad.
- Disgusting, repulsive, abhorrent.
- Circumstanced.
- Started on the way.
- Not positioned upon, or away from a position upon.
- Detached, separated, excluded or disconnected from; away from a position of attachment or connection to.
- Outside the area or region of.
- Temporarily not attending (a usual place), especially owing to illness or holiday.
- Used to indicate the location or direction of one thing relative to another, implying adjacency or accessibility via.
- Used to express location at sea relative to land or mainland.
- Removed or subtracted from.
- No longer wanting or taking.
- Out of the possession of.
- Placed after a number (of products or parts, as if a unit), in commerce or engineering.
- Under the influence of.
- As a result of.
- To kill.
- To switch off.
- Beginning; starting point.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Proto-West Germanic *ab Old English æf Old English of Middle English of English off From Middle English of, from Old English of, af, æf (“from, off, away”), from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“from, off, back”). Doublet of of. Cognates Cognate with Scots aff (“away, off”), Saterland Frisian oawe, ou (“from”), West Frisian ôf (“away, off”), Dutch af (“from, off”), German ab (“from, off”), German Low German, Luxembourgish of (“off”), Yiddish אָפּ (op, “off”), Danish, Icelandic af (“from, off”), Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk av (“off”), Swedish af, av (“off”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af, “of, from”); and with Latin ab (“of, from, by”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), and others.