carry off
Britishverb
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to remove forcefully
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to win
he carried off all the prizes
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to manage or handle (a situation) successfully
he carried off the introductions well
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to cause to die
he was carried off by pneumonia
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Handle successfully, win, as in It was a difficult situation, but he managed to carry it off gracefully , or They carried off first prize . [First half of 1800s]
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Cause the death of someone, as in The new African virus carried off an entire village . This usage is less common today. [Late 1600s]
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.
In 1990, two men disguised as police officers spent 81 minutes crisscrossing Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to cut out and carry off masterpieces by Vermeer and Rembrandt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
In the past, according to Lee, many attacks of government entities were carried out by state-sponsored actors, but the emergence of AI-powered hacking tools have allowed everyday people to carry off such incursions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
A powerful carry off the back of the scrum from England number eight Alex Matthews helped set up Muir to barge her way over to quickly respond in an action-packed opening 10 minutes.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2024
As anyone who has witnessed an ant carry off food from a picnic knows, insects are far stronger than their puny size suggests.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2023
He is left behind with a few other prisoners to carry off the wounded.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
