Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

give off

British  

verb

  1. (tr, adverb) to emit or discharge

    the mothballs gave off an acrid odour
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
give off Idioms  

  1. Send out, emit, as in Certain chemical changes give off energy, or This mixture gives off a very strange odor. [Early 1800s]

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.

He feels fortunate that she “had been a good woman, so her body remained intact and she did not give off a smell of decay.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

The scientists believe that the nodules give off enough electric charge to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen, a process known as electrolysis.

From Barron's • Jan. 20, 2026

As written by Claire Dinhut, tonka “has a sweetness to it that resembles grassy, hay-like, fresh vanilla. However, tonka beans also give off a slightly warming and spicy aftertaste of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.”

From Salon • Sep. 19, 2025

Ministers want to give off a sense of demonstrable toughness, visible muscularity.

From BBC • Feb. 10, 2025

Not only did it give off a strange light, this table made an eerie wailing sound, like no human ever made.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

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.