off the mark

Idioms  

1. Also, wide of the mark. Inaccurate, wrong, as in The forecast was off the mark, since unemployment is down, or His answers on the test were just wide of the mark. It is also put as miss the mark, meaning “be mistaken,” as in The minister missed the mark when he assumed everyone would contribute to the supper. All these terms allude to mark in the sense of “a target,” as do the antonyms on the mark and hit the mark, meaning “exactly right,” as in He was right on the mark with that budget amendment, or Bill hit the mark when he accused Tom of lying. [Mid-1300s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

off the mark

But even if Hegel’s interpretation would have seemed off the mark to him, Antigone and Creon are too complex to reduce to a schematic argument.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Haaland will be hoping his new look brings even more goals as he aims to get off the mark when Enzo Maresca's side face Bournemouth at 14:00 BST on Sunday.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

But Garzarelli turned out to be way off the mark: The Dow never came near her target.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

She even got off the mark with a quick single and later chased the ball down in the field.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Let’s just say he was pretty off the mark.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

Related Words

• bogus
• deceitful
• dishonest
• distorted
• erroneous
• fake
• fanciful
• faulty
• fictitious
• fraudulent
• improper
• inaccurate
• incorrect
• invalid
• misleading
• mistaken
• phony
• specious
• spurious
• unfounded