carry off

verb

carried off; carrying off; carries off

transitive verb

1

: to cause the death of

the plague carried off thousands

2

: to perform or manage successfully : bring off

tried to look suave but couldn't carry it off

Synonyms

• accomplish
• achieve
• bring off
• carry out
• commit
• compass
• do
• execute
• follow through (with)
• fulfill
• fulfil
• make
• negotiate
• perform
• perpetrate
• prosecute
• pull off
• put through

Examples of carry off in a Sentence

the con artist would never have been able to carry off his schemes if it were not for the greed of his eager victims

pray that the pestilence does not carry off any more souls than it already has

Recent Examples on the Web

Ter Stegen fell badly after jumping for a ball just before halftime and was visibly in pain as he was carried off the pitch on a stretcher. —Reuters, 23 Sep. 2024

The bare-bones narrative often seems to drift rather than move forward with purpose, occasionally threatening to get carried off by the winds that hammer the island. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Oct. 2024

These early avians were about the size of a hawk and had strong enough feet to capture and carry off prey–possibly even small dinosaurs. —Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 9 Oct. 2024

For following a Pro-Palestinian protest at the Princess of Wales on Thursday opening night, there was a medical emergency at the Roy Thomson Hall premiere of Eden, with an attendee being carried off on a stretcher. —Natalie Sitek, Deadline, 7 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1640, in the meaning defined at sense 2