Basic+ Word of the Day: off

off (adverb, preposition, adjective)

He fell off his bike.

If something moves off another thing, it means that it isn’t on that thing any more.

• My pen fell off the table.
• He took off his jacket.

If someone goes off, it means that they go away from a person or place.

• Don’t walk off when I’m speaking to you.

If something (for example a television) is off, it means that it isn’t doing anything.

• The lights are all off – I can’t see anything!

If you are off, it means that you aren’t in the place you usually should be, for example work or school.

• She’s off work today because she’s sick.

When there is money off a price, it means that the price is lower.

• There’s $10 off this skirt. (=The skirt is $10 cheaper than it was before.)

In pop culture

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a movie about a boy who wants the day off (=he doesn’t want to go to school that day). He tells his parents that he’s sick. When they go to work, he meets his friends and they have lots of fun. But at the end of the day, he has to get back home before his parents. In this video from the movie, Ferris’s sister is driving home with her mom. She sees Ferris, and she knows that he wasn’t sick. She starts driving fast, and Ferris has to run. Who gets home first?

There are other meanings of off.