on-off
Britishadjective
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(of an electrical switch, button, etc) having an `on' position and an `off' position
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existing at times and not at others; discontinuous
an on-off relationship
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.
The escalation followed months of closed-door, on-off negotiations between the university and the White House.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
Rybakina had wanted to bring her on-off Croatian coach Stefano Vukov back into her team for the Melbourne major.
From Barron's • Jan. 30, 2026
I’ve found that almost all managers fall into the same delegation trap: They treat delegation like an on-off switch.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 13, 2025
The hacker contacted the French company in early June and claims to have been in on-off negotiations with them over a ransom to be paid in Bitcoin.
From BBC • Sep. 15, 2025
It was more like this: Every half-hour when the shows switched, my mother walked over to the television and tried the on-off button several times.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
