off-grid
Americanadjective
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not connected to or using one or more public utilities, as for electricity or water: Our farm is off grid and works on solar panels.
Well over a billion people live in off-grid areas.
Our farm is off grid and works on solar panels.
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not connected to or using one or more public communications networks, as for cellular service.
They live off grid with no internet access.
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not having communication with the outside world; not participating in society.
I sometimes fantasize about a solitary, off-grid life, far away from humanity.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of off-grid
First recorded in 1975–80
Explanation
Anything that's off-grid doesn't use public utilities like electricity or water. Your dream house might be an off-grid cabin, but you should probably try using an outhouse in the winter before you actually move into one! Off-grid sometimes refers specifically to the national grid, which is made up of regional power plants that provide electricity to most Americans. If solar panels on your roof generate all your electricity, you live in an off-grid home. It can also mean "outside of and not dependent on society" more generally: "I wanted an off-grid life, so I moved into the woods and got some chickens and goats."
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.
The technology could eventually support a variety of real-world uses, including off-grid heating systems for camping or home water heating applications.
From Science Daily • May 15, 2026
Most have been living completely off-grid for more than a year.
From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026
These let data centers build their own power off-grid, insulating ratepayers while putting the investment risk where it belongs: on the private sector.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
Saxon also told the court that West wanted to "gut" the beach house, which was built and designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando, to make it off-grid.
From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026
Citra asked as they looked for a parking place—one of the liabilities of taking a car that was off-grid.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
