Synonyms

offish

American

[aw-fish, of-ish] / ˈɔ fɪʃ, ˈɒf ɪʃ /

adjective

Informal.

aloof; unapproachable; standoffish.

offish British

/ ˈɒfɪʃ /

adjective

informal aloof or distant in manner

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of offish

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; off + -ish ¹

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.

See Examples For:

offish

But the only man who takes an interest in him is an offish fellow named Fitzgerald.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 17, 2017

Within a couple of weeks of me moving in we went out for a meal, and as we came back he was basically quite offish with me, and I just didn't understand.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2016

The positioning can be creepily over-friendly or offish.

From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2014

His regimen includes a strict diet offish, fowl and vegetables, and it shows: at 5 ft.

From Time Magazine Archive

Everybody went fishing and everybody caught a lot offish.

From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023