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off-base

off-base

adjective

located outside the perimeters of a military base.
off base

off base

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]

Synonyms

off-base

American

[awf-beys, of-] / ˈɔfˈbeɪs, ˈɒf- /

adjective

located outside the perimeters of a military base.

off-base housing for officers.

off base Idioms

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]

Etymology

Origin of off-base

First recorded in 1935–40

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.

See Examples For:

off-base off base

McDonald are not off-base when they say that Mahmoud establishes their right to send their kids to school unvaccinated.

From Slate ● Dec. 9, 2025

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

Some were wildly off-base; others lined up perfectly with what I’d seen and heard.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2025

Seahawks fans don’t need reminding how off-base an initial assessment of an NFL draft class can be.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2024

Because of its intimate connection with the Department of Defense, the National Guard appeared to be an easy target in the attack against off-base discrimination.

From Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 by MacGregor, Morris J.

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

He also points out that the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center has partnered with a coalition of agencies and nongovernmental organizations to conserve land off base.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 21, 2024

But even thinking that was off base, because there was no comparison.

From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023