1945–50, noun use of verb phrase brush off
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"I was told that things would be looked into. It was very vague. It was a brush-off."
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2024
We don’t know what happened exactly after this brush-off, but it’s clear that Josh didn’t give up because Nyswanderweg—Marie Nyswander Way—exists in Hamburg today.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 1, 2023
Border experts were stunned by the president’s brush-off.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 6, 2022
“Go fly a kite” means anything but the brush-off in the new TV movie “High Flying Romance.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2021
Saying good-bye at the end of a visit, Craig would give my dad a final, concerned look and pose the usual question about his health, only to be given the merry brush-off of “I’m fine.”
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Then they brush off their hands and walk away, leaving the fires to burn behind them.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
One pocket of the market was managing to brush off the pain.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Financial planners who brush off crypto and reject it outright risk alienating these potential clients.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 20, 2026
Blane might have to brush off Duckie’s occasional curtness, but that’s the extent of his woes.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2026
I brush off my jeans, though there isn’t anything on them, and stand up.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
