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Synonyms

off the beaten track

Idioms  

  1. An unusual route or destination, as in We found a great vacation spot, off the beaten track. This term alludes to a well-worn path trodden down by many feet and was first recorded in 1860, although the phrase beaten track was recorded in 1638 in reference to the usual, unoriginal way of doing something.

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.

It is also a lever for encouraging tourism into an area far off the beaten track.

From Barron's • Feb. 10, 2026

The moral: Whenever possible, get off the beaten track.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2024

The jurors then travelled a further three-miles down isolated country roads, with each turn taking them further off the beaten track.

From BBC • Feb. 1, 2024

It is off the beaten track for most Palestinians, and far from Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, the body created in the 1990s that exercises limited self-rule over parts of the West Bank.

From New York Times • Jul. 4, 2023

It is off the beaten track, though, and that accounts for it.

From The Automobilist Abroad by Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)

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.