off-base

American  

[awf-beys, of-] / ˈɔfˈbeɪs, ˈɒf- /

adjective

1. located outside the perimeters of a military base.

   off-base housing for officers.

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off base Idioms  

1. 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]

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Etymology

Origin of off-base

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Curious to see the effect of all that Americanness, I drove north from Naha to Makiminato, a place once dominated by American bases, off-base housing and base-adjacent businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 25, 2025

In a paper published Monday in “The Anatomical Record,” an international team of paleontologists, neuroscientists and behavioral scientists argue that Herculano-Houzel’s assumptions about brain cavity size and corresponding neuron counts were off-base.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 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

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 MacGregor, Morris J.

Related Words

• erroneous
• inaccurate
• mistaken
• sadly mistaken
• wrong