set off

¹

verb

1. intr to embark on a journey
2. tr to cause (a person) to act or do something, such as laugh or tell stories
3. tr to cause to explode
4. tr to act as a foil or contrast to, esp so as to improve

   that brooch sets your dress off well

5. tr accounting to cancel a credit on (one account) against a debit on another, both of which are in the name of the same person, enterprise, etc
6. intr to bring a claim by way of setoff

noun

1. anything that serves as a counterbalance
2. anything that serves to contrast with or enhance something else; foil
3. another name for setback See set back
4. a counterbalancing debt or claim offered by a debtor against a creditor
5. a cross claim brought by a debtor that partly offsets the creditor's claim See also counterclaim

set-off

²

noun

1. printing a fault in which ink is transferred from a heavily inked or undried printed sheet to the sheet next to it in a pile Also called (esp Brit)offset

Example Sentences

Moreover, the noisy careers of Liszt and Thalberg serve as a set-off to the noiseless one of Chopin.

From Project Gutenberg

So much doubt should be relieved by the exhibition of some universally admitted fact as a set-off.

From Project Gutenberg

Against these disadvantages the very moderate hotel bills which Mr Margary was called upon to settle may have been some set-off.

From Project Gutenberg

As a set-off against this, no woman can have a child entirely her own except by incurring what are called "social disadvantages."

From Project Gutenberg

As though it were in some sense a set-off against something not delightful elsewhere.

From Project Gutenberg