offhand
cavalierly, curtly, or brusquely: to reply offhand.
without previous thought or preparation; extempore: to decide offhand to take a trip.
informal, casual, curt, or brusque: an offhand manner.
Also offhanded. done or made offhand.
Glassmaking. working manually and without the use of molds: offhand blowing.
Origin of offhand
1Other words for offhand
Opposites for offhand
Other words from offhand
- off·hand·ed·ly, adverb
- off·hand·ed·ness, noun
Words Nearby offhand
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use offhand in a sentence
A decade and a half later, the only rule I remember offhand is the one I always broke.
The 70-year-old humorist, commentator, chronically blocked writer, sometime actor and Manhattan fixture—a master of the short sentence as well as the offhand dismissal—was the subject of his HBO documentary Public Speaking, from 2010.
In Pretend It’s a City, Martin Scorsese Shares the Pleasure of Fran Lebowitz’s Company | Judy Berman | January 8, 2021 | TimeI don’t think I really am that noisy, but offhand comments from the future in-laws have made me self-conscious.
offhand, I can think of two Jacks—Jack of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and Jack the Ripper, who cut quite a figure in his day.
Harvey Weinstein’s Battle With Warner Bros. Over ‘The Butler’: There's History | Marlow Stern | July 12, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTOne aide monitoring the speech gave it the kind of offhand tweet it deserves.
Romney's Birther "Joke" and the Automatic Outrage Machine | Michael Tomasky | August 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Everyone should watch what they say lest their offhand remarks be twisted and damage the company.
Rupert Murdoch Bares Media’s Reach to Leveson Inquiry on Phone Hacking | Nicholas Wapshott | April 28, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe guy who was president when New Orleans drowned—I can't recall his name offhand—froze our government in icy indifference.
C-SPAN Negotiations An offhand promise in a debate ended up coming back to haunt Democrats during the health-care debate.
I didn't much like his offhand way of asking; not that it wasn't a perfectly legitimate query.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclairoffhand, I would say that the train passed over his body some several hours after his death.
But he meets only with an offhand denial, couched in words of scant courtesy.
The Land of Fire | Mayne ReidIt may strike the reader that an offhand statement like the foregoing relates to a proceeding of no special difficulty or peril.
The Life of Kit Carson | Edward S. EllisShe could hardly be a woman if she did not; and in her airy, elusive, offhand demeanour she was very much of a woman indeed.
The Well-Beloved | Thomas Hardy
British Dictionary definitions for offhand
/ (ˌɒfˈhænd) /
without care, thought, or consideration; sometimes, brusque or ungracious: an offhand manner
without preparation or warning; impromptu
Derived forms of offhand
- offhandedly, adverb
- offhandedness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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