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

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

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Consensus expectations in late 2007 of 16% were way off the mark.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

But they’re not far wide off the mark in terms of orders of magnitude.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026

In some cases, the fish attempted to rub off the mark within the first hour of seeing a mirror.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026

One or two of the rats were a bit slow off the mark, but not as slow as Colin Vole and his mother, who were roughly grabbed by the faster sentries.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

Related Words

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