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off-base

off-base

adjective

located outside the perimeters of a military base.
off base

off base

Wrong, relying on a mistaken premise, as in His description of the accounting system was totally off base. This metaphoric term originated in baseball, where a runner who steps off a base can be put out. [c. 1940]

Synonyms

off-base

American

[awf-beys, of-] / ˈɔfˈbeɪs, ˈɒf- /

adjective

located outside the perimeters of a military base.

off-base housing for officers.

off base Idioms

Wrong, relying on a mistaken premise, as in His description of the accounting system was totally off base. This metaphoric term originated in baseball, where a runner who steps off a base can be put out. [c. 1940]

Etymology

Origin of off-base

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

off-base off base

Ms. Lee is equally off-base, delivering her lines with a mix of sangfroid and sarcasm as if C-suite officers are used to getting chased around by super-killers from another domain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025

Some were wildly off-base; others lined up perfectly with what I’d seen and heard.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2025

The public will again see light rail trains parked off-base, this time by necessity.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2024

Self-serving defensive claims and off-base sports analogies will not turn things around.

From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2023

Command responsibility for equal opportunity, the committee emphasized, was particularly important "in the area of most pressing concern, off-base discrimination."

From Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 by Morris J. MacGregor

The irony, however: That bully wasn’t completely off base.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

In fact, all of these expectations were far off base.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

That is quite the takeaway, not to mention depressingly way off base from the point.

From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026

Public perception of a double-standard for the wealthy and powerful may not be so off base.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2024

I realized, of course, that this might be because my theory about the old D&D module was completely lame and totally off base.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023