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• off-the-cuff
  off-the-cuff

  adjective

  with little or no preparation; extemporaneous; impromptu.
• off the cuff
  off the cuff

  Impromptu, extemporaneous, as in His speech was entirely off the cuff. This term supposedly alludes to the practice of speakers making last-minute notes on the cuff of a shirtsleeve. [1930s]

off-the-cuff

American  

[awf-thuh-kuhf, of-] / ˈɔf ðəˈkʌf, ˈɒf- /

adjective

1. with little or no preparation; extemporaneous; impromptu.

   a speaker with a good off-the-cuff delivery.

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off the cuff Idioms  

1. Impromptu, extemporaneous, as in His speech was entirely off the cuff. This term supposedly alludes to the practice of speakers making last-minute notes on the cuff of a shirtsleeve. [1930s]

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Etymology

Origin of off-the-cuff

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt suddenly announced it at the 1943 Casablanca conference as an aim of the World War II Allies, he did so off the cuff.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026

“I teach pretty off the cuff, and my lectures are critical, so I’m also very tuned in to making sure I’m not getting recorded.”

From Slate • Feb. 12, 2026

When he speaks off the cuff it’s a gamble—he doesn’t know what he’s going to say either!—and gambles are exciting and diverting.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

It caused a bit of a fuss back home, but it was not an off the cuff gaffe.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2025

It stretches plausibility to the breaking point that he would have decided to deliver one as important as this off the cuff.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith