Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: In addition to the uses shown below, '~' is used after some verbs and nouns in order to introduce extra information. 'Off' is also used in phrasal verbs such as ‘get ~’, ‘pair ~’, and ‘sleep ~’.
1.
If something is taken ~ something else or moves ~ it, it is no longer touching that thing.
He took his feet ~ the desk...
I took the key for the room ~ a rack above her head...
Hugh wiped the rest of the blood ~ his face with his handkerchief.
= from
PREP
•
Off is also an adverb.
Lee broke ~ a small piece of orange and held it out to him...
His exhaust fell ~ six laps from the finish.
ADV: ADV after v
2.
When you get ~ a bus, train, or plane, you come out of it or leave it after you have been travelling on it.
Don’t try to get on or ~ a moving train!...
As he stepped ~ the aeroplane, he was shot dead.
? on
PREP
•
Off is also an adverb.
At the next stop the man got ~ too and introduced himself.
ADV: ADV after v
3.
If you keep ~ a street or piece of land, you do not step on it or go there.
Locking up men does nothing more than keep them ~ the streets...
The local police had warned visitors to keep ~ the beach at night.
PREP
•
Off is also an adverb.
...a sign saying ‘Keep Off’.
ADV
4.
If something is situated ~ a place such as a coast, room, or road, it is near to it or next to it, but not exactly in it.
The boat was anchored ~ the northern coast of the peninsula...
Lily lives in a penthouse just ~ Park Avenue...
PREP
5.
If you go ~, you leave a place.
He was just about to drive ~ when the secretary came running out...
She gave a hurried wave and set ~ across the grass...
She was ~ again. Last year she had been to Kenya. This year it was Goa...
When his master’s ~ traveling, Caleb stays with Pierre’s parents.
ADV: ADV after v, be ADV, oft ADV -ing
6.
When you take ~ clothing or jewellery that you are wearing, you remove it from your body.
He took ~ his spectacles and rubbed frantically at the lens...
He hastily stripped ~ his old uniform and began pulling on the new one.
ADV: ADV after v
7.
If you have time ~ or a particular day ~, you do not go to work or school, for example because you are ill or it is a day when you do not usually work.
The rest of the men had the day ~...
She was sacked for demanding Saturdays ~...
I’m ~ tomorrow...
The average Swede was ~ sick 27 days last year.
ADV: usu n ADV, also be ADV
•
Off is also a preposition.
He could not get time ~ work to go on holiday.
PREP
8.
If you keep ~ a subject, you deliberately avoid talking about it.
Keep ~ the subject of politics...
Keep the conversation ~ linguistic matters.
PREP
9.
If something such as an agreement or a sporting event is ~, it is cancelled.
Until Pointon is completely happy, however, the deal’s ~...
Greenpeace refused to call ~ the event.
? on
ADV: be ADV, ADV after v
10.
If someone is ~ something harmful such as a drug, they have stopped taking or using it.
She felt better and the psychiatrist took her ~ drug therapy...
PREP
11.
If you are ~ something, you have stopped liking it.
I’m ~ c~ee at the moment...
Diarrhoea can make you feel weak, as well as putting you ~ your food.
PREP
12.
When something such as a machine or electric light is ~, it is not functioning or in use. When you switch it ~, you stop it functioning.
As he pulled into the driveway, he saw her bedroom light was ~...
We used sail power and turned the engine ~ to save our fuel...
The microphones had been switched ~.
? on
ADV: be ADV, ADV after v
13.
If there is money ~ something, its price is reduced by the amount specified.
...Simons Leatherwear, 37 Old Christchurch Road. 20 per cent ~ all jackets this Saturday.
...discounts ~ering thousands of pounds ~ the normal price of a car.
PREP: amount PREP n
•
Off is also an adverb.
I’m prepared to knock five hundred pounds ~ but no more.
ADV: ADV after v, v-link ADV, amount ADV
14.
If something is a long way ~, it is a long distance away from you.
Florida was a long way ~...
Below you, though still 50 miles ~, is the most treeless stretch of land imaginable.
= away
ADV: n/amount ADV
15.
If something is a long time ~, it will not happen for a long time.
An end to the crisis seems a long way ~...
The required technology is probably still two years ~.
ADV: n/amount ADV
16.
If you get something ~ someone, you obtain it from them. (SPOKEN)
I don’t really get a lot of information, and if I do I get it ~ Mark...
‘Telmex’ was bought ~ the government by a group of investors.
= from
PREP
17.
If food has gone ~, it tastes and smells bad because it is no longer fresh enough to be eaten. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use spoiled , bad )
Don’t eat that! It’s mouldy. It’s gone ~!
= bad
ADJ: v-link ADJ
18.
If you live ~ a particular kind of food, you eat it in order to live. If you live ~ a particular source of money, you use it to live.
Her husband’s memories are of living ~ roast chicken and drinking whisky...
Antony had been living ~ the sale of his own paintings.
= on
PREP: v PREP n
19.
If a machine runs ~ a particular kind of fuel or power, it uses that power in order to function.
The Auto Compact Disc Cleaner can run ~ batteries or mains.
PREP: v PREP n
20.
If something happens on and ~, or ~ and on, it happens occasionally, or only for part of a period of time, not in a regular or continuous way.
I was still working on and ~ as a waitress to support myself...
We lived together, ~ and on, for two years.
PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR with cl