come off

verb

came off; come off; coming off; comes off

intransitive verb

1

a

: to acquit oneself : fare

came off well in the contest

b

: appear, seem

2

: succeed

a television series that never came off

—TV Guide

3

: happen, occur

4

US, informal

—used in phrases like where do you come off? to express anger or annoyance at what someone has said or done

Marie was bent over the table now, reading, her piping girlish voice hot with indignation. "Where does she come off, anyway?"

—T. Coraghessan Boyle

transitive verb

1

: to have recently completed or recovered from

coming off a good year

2

: to have recently stopped using (an illegal drug)

an addict who is coming off heroin

Synonyms

• be
• befall
• betide
• chance
• come
• come about
• come down
• cook
• do
• go down [slang]
• go on
• hap
• happen
• occur
• pass
• transpire

Examples of come off in a Sentence

couldn't believe that the wedding would actually come off—they've been “just dating” for years

the attempted revival of the city's downtown never really came off, and even more stores eventually closed

Recent Examples on the Web

One player: Damian Lillard With 31.8 seconds left in the Bucks’ loss on Saturday, Bulls guard Koby White came off a pick-and-roll and knocked down a jumper to give Chicago a two-point lead. —Eric Nehm, The Athletic, 1 Jan. 2025

Arroyo is a very talented infield prospect who's coming off an excellent 2024 campaign. —Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 1 Jan. 2025

Both women are coming off losses in their last fights. —Brian Mazique, Forbes, 31 Dec. 2024

Known for turns in films like Inglourious Basterds and Atomic Blonde, Schweiger is coming off of Guy Ritchie’s action comedy The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which Lionsgate released in the U.S. in April. —Matt Grobar, Deadline, 30 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1590, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a