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• off-the-rack
  off-the-rack

  adjective

  (of clothing) not made to specific or individual requirements; ready-made.
• off the rack
  off the rack

  Ready-made, as in She has all her clothes made; she never buys a dress off the rack. The rack here is a frame from which clothes are hung. [Mid-1900s] A British synonym is off the peg, similarly alluding to a knob from which clothes are hung and dating from the late 1800s. Also see off the shelf.

off-the-rack

American  

[awf-thuh-rak, of-] / ˈɔf ðəˈræk, ˈɒf- /

adjective

1. (of clothing) not made to specific or individual requirements; ready-made.

   off-the-rack men's suits.

2. Slang. off-the-wall.

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off the rack Idioms  

1. Ready-made, as in She has all her clothes made; she never buys a dress off the rack. The rack here is a frame from which clothes are hung. [Mid-1900s] A British synonym is off the peg, similarly alluding to a knob from which clothes are hung and dating from the late 1800s. Also see off the shelf.

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Etymology

Origin of off-the-rack

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

off-the-rack off the rack

At the start of the 1970s, before the dollar’s link to gold was severed, an ounce might have gotten you an off-the-rack seersucker at J.C.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026

It’s the shift from battleships to PT boats, from handmade suits to off-the-rack ones.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2025

Perversely enough, these shows also take viewers into other worlds — those of middling wealth and off-the-rack glamour that seem just out of reach.

From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025

Through her work at RefineLA, Luo said she aims to help her peers find outlets for their self-expression through secondhand fashion — especially because thrifted pieces sometimes have an individuality that off-the-rack clothes lack.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2024

Although there may be some truth in both hypotheses, this sort of posthumous off-the-rack psychoanalysis is a dubious, highly speculative enterprise that inevitably demeans and trivializes the absent analysand.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

“Heated Rivalry” hottie, Connor Storrie, wore an outfit that looked straight off the rack at your local H&M, but honestly, who cares?

From Salon ● May 5, 2026

Still, these income sources didn’t add up to a lot, so I couldn’t waltz out and buy garments off the rack.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025

Realising the malfunction could kill the show's momentum, she grabs a costume off the rack and starts to get changed, serving fans a new look when she returns to the stage.

From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2023

Nothing you buy off the rack is going to be perfect.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2023

He dragged some towels off the rack and laid them inside it, ready for her.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman