sign-off
noun
the act or fact of signing off.
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sign-off
American
[sahyn-awf, -of]
/ ˈsaɪnˌɔf, -ˌɒf /
Or
signoff
noun
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the act or fact of signing off.
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personal approval or authorization; endorsement.
sign off
British
verb
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(intr) to announce the end of a radio or television programme, esp at the end of a day
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(intr) bridge to make a conventional bid indicating to one's partner that one wishes the bidding to stop
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(tr) to withdraw or retire from (an activity)
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(tr) (of a doctor) to declare (someone) unfit for work, because of illness
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(intr) to terminate one's claim to unemployment benefit
sign off
Idioms
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Announce the end of a communication, especially a broadcast. For example, There's no one there now; the station has signed off for the night . [c. 1920]
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Stop talking, become silent, as in Every time the subject of marriage came up, Harold signed off . [ Colloquial ; mid-1900s]
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Express approval formally or conclusively, as in The President got the majority leader to sign off on the tax proposal . This usage is colloquial.
Etymology
Origin of sign-off
First recorded in 1925–30; noun use of verb phrase sign off
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 company is pursuing a $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. that requires sign-off from Trump’s own Justice Department.
From Salon • Jun. 15, 2026
But the federal sign-off does not end the deal's legal peril.
From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026
Stephen Colbert’s viral public access spot had former bosses CBS and its parent company Paramount in a brief tizzy over the weekend, mere hours after his buzzy late-night sign-off.
From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026
“A Portrait of the Artist” bears two sign-off dates: “Dublin, 1904 / Trieste, 1914.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
She used Immie’s favorite words, her slang, her sign-off, her “kind ofs” and “maybes.”
From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart
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.
