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off-base

off-base

adjective

located outside the perimeters of a military base.
off base

off base

Wrong, relying on a mistaken premise, as in His description of the accounting system was totally off base. This metaphoric term originated in baseball, where a runner who steps off a base can be put out. [c. 1940]

Synonyms

off-base

American

[awf-beys, of-] / ˈɔfˈbeɪs, ˈɒf- /

adjective

located outside the perimeters of a military base.

off-base housing for officers.

off base Idioms

Wrong, relying on a mistaken premise, as in His description of the accounting system was totally off base. This metaphoric term originated in baseball, where a runner who steps off a base can be put out. [c. 1940]

Etymology

Origin of off-base

First recorded in 1935–40

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:

off-base off base

Curious to see the effect of all that Americanness, I drove north from Naha to Makiminato, a place once dominated by American bases, off-base housing and base-adjacent businesses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025

The book was spectacularly off-base, as Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman explained at the time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2025

Seahawks fans don’t need reminding how off-base an initial assessment of an NFL draft class can be.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2024

Self-serving defensive claims and off-base sports analogies will not turn things around.

From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2023

The combination of voluntary compliance techniques and economic sanctions, in tandem with the historic civil rights legislation of the mid-1960's, succeeded in eliminating most of the off-base discrimination faced by black servicemen.

From Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 by MacGregor, Morris J.

A lot would have to be wrong for the model’s forecasts to be way off base.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

What we are measuring, why we are measuring it, and where we might be off base.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026

However, he’s completely off base to advocate for the CFP national championship game to be hosted there.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2026

Blithe predictions that Santos will follow in the footsteps of Sean Spicer and Rudy Giuliani and appear on “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Masked Singer” are not off base.

From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2023

I need Dr. Crowchild to confirm for me that he’s way off base.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

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