First recorded in 1935–40
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Live Nation says the arguments are off-base and will probably fail in court.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2024
Stanley Perlman, a University of Iowa professor who studies coronaviruses and serves on the federal advisory committee that reviews vaccines, said Rosendale’s claim is off-base.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
Self-serving defensive claims and off-base sports analogies will not turn things around.
From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2023
It is hard enough to be told that you are off-base and that your behavior has been bad when an adult says the damning words.
From The Fourth R by Smith, George Oliver
A lot would have to be wrong for the model’s forecasts to be way off base.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
What we are measuring, why we are measuring it, and where we might be off base.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
The result is that nothing jarring is pulling the viewer out of the story because something as basic as posture or a gesture is so far off base it’s not believable.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2025
Public perception of a double-standard for the wealthy and powerful may not be so off base.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2024
I need Dr. Crowchild to confirm for me that he’s way off base.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
