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• tip-off
  tip-off

  noun

  the act of tipping off.
• tip off
  tip off

  Supply with secret or private information; also, warn or alert. For example, The broker often tipped her off about stocks about to go down in price, or Somehow they were tipped off and left the country before the police could catch them. [Colloquial; late 1800s]

tip-off

American  

[tip-awf, -of] / ˈtɪpˌɔf, -ˌɒf /

noun

Informal.

1. the act of tipping off.

2. a hint or warning.

   They got a tip-off on the raid.

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tip-off British  

noun

1. a warning or hint, esp given confidentially and based on inside information

2. basketball the act or an instance of putting the ball in play by a jump ball

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verb

1. (tr, adverb) to give a hint or warning to

tip off Idioms  

1. Supply with secret or private information; also, warn or alert. For example, The broker often tipped her off about stocks about to go down in price, or Somehow they were tipped off and left the country before the police could catch them. [Colloquial; late 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of tip-off

First recorded in 1910–15; noun use of verb phrase tip off

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tip-off tip off

The tip-off: Some of the voices they intercepted had southern accents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

His body has never been found and police hope the images could jog memories that could lead to a tip-off.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

On another ticket marketplace Gametime, prices for Game 3 also dropped closer to tip-off, something that has occurred in each game of the NBA Conference Finals and NBA Finals in 2026.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026

If trends for Game 4 follow the previous games in the series, prices will continue to drop as tip-off comes closer.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026

Obviously they did not want to go to the regular clinic to have an Army nurse take their blood: that would be a tip-off to the military authorities that they thought they’d been exposed.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

Durant was ruled out about 90 minutes before tip off.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2026

You can’t see your pool’s other brackets until the games tip off on Thursday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026

It came after a tip off from House of Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle that the former cabinet minister may have been planning to travel to the British Virgin Islands.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026

Yet CEOs have a fiduciary duty to conceal strategic information that could tip off competitors from arm’s-length shareholders.

From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026

She cracked the tip off a pod, pulled the string, snapped the casing open, slid her thumb inside the slithery shell, and added the peas to the mound in the bowl between her knees.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago