off — OET · Shobdo

off

adverb

1 the youths scrambled out of the car and ran off:

away, to a distance, from here, from there.

2 David took a day off:

away, absent, out, unavailable, not working, not at work, off duty, on leave, on annual leave, free, at leisure, idle;

British on holiday;

North American on vacation.

adjective

1 strawberries are off:

unavailable, unobtainable, finished, sold out.

▷antonyms available.

2 due to a waterlogged pitch, the game was called off:

cancelled, postponed, called off, abandoned, shelved.

▷antonyms on.

3 the fish/milk is off:

rotten, bad, stale, mouldy, high, sour, rancid, turned, spoiled, putrid, putrescent.

▷antonyms fresh.

4 British I felt decidedly off:

unwell, ill, poorly, bad, out of sorts, indisposed, not oneself, sick, queasy, nauseous, nauseated, peaky, liverish, green around the gills, run down, washed out;

British off colour;

informal under the weather, below par, not up to par, funny, peculiar, rough, lousy, rotten, awful, terrible, dreadful, crummy;

British, informal grotty, ropy;

Scottish, informal wabbit, peely-wally;

Australian, New Zealand, informal crook;

vulgar slang crappy;

dated seedy.

▷antonyms well, fit.

5 informal his boss deducted the money from his pay, which was a bit off:

unfair, unjust, uncalled for, below the belt, unacceptable, unjustified, unjustifiable, unreasonable, unsatisfactory, unwarranted, unnecessary, inequitable;

informal a bit much;

British, informal out of order, a bit thick;

Australian, New Zealand, informal over the fence.

▷antonyms fair, reasonable.

6 informal he was being really off with me:

unfriendly, aloof, cool, cold, distant, chilly, frosty, hostile, frigid, unresponsive, unapproachable, uncommunicative;

informal stand-offish, offish.

▷antonyms friendly.

□ off and on

the book he has been working at, off and on, for over 20 years:

periodically, at intervals, on and off, (every) once in a while, every so often, (every) now and then/again, from time to time, occasionally, on occasion, on occasions, on the odd occasion, at times, sometimes, sporadically, spasmodically, erratically, irregularly, intermittently, in/by fits and starts, fitfully, discontinuously, piecemeal;

interruptedly.

▷antonyms regularly.

off Oxford Dictionary of English