off-color
AmericanEtymology
Origin of off-color
First recorded in 1855–60
Explanation
Something that's off-color is offensive or vulgar. Your parents might stop inviting your uncle for Thanksgiving after years of his embarrassing, off-color jokes. You'll most often find the adjective off-color describing jokes that make some listeners laugh, but offend or disgust others. Standup comedians are frequently famous for their off-color humor, while politicians caught telling off-color stories can face serious career difficulties. Before American English adopted off-color to mean "in questionable taste," this adjective was used to describe faulty gemstones.
Vocabulary lists containing off-color
Forget Me Not
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Today Tonight Tomorrow
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
In the one-way broadcast channel, guests could only emoji-react, so the thread wasn’t cluttered with giant stickers or, say, off-color replies from an unfiltered uncle.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 16, 2025
According to the New York Times, Trump liked Lewandowski for his “feisty instincts and off-color humor” but he ended up reluctantly firing him after he’d manhandled a reporter.
From Salon • Oct. 17, 2025
But let’s be clear: Plenty of people wrote mean, off-color things that they wouldn’t say out loud.
From Slate • Sep. 11, 2025
It was the sort of off-color banter that might have gone unnoticed in the era before body-worn cameras and other technology began to routinely capture candid conversations between cops.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2023
In the train going to Royaumont, however, he looked off-color, giving no indication of wanting either to read The Times or to hear me gossip about the phage group.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
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.
