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

Not just that the House, coming off of its least productive year in modern history, managed to pass a substantive bill. —Bridget Grumet, Austin American-Statesman, 22 Nov. 2024

This is a reach, because Keith doesn’t come off as insecure, merely as a normal person who wants to avoid messiness and was never that into Danni. —Emma Soren, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024

This works especially well on water sets, with glare coming off the surface blinding them. —Joe Arterburn, Outdoor Life, 14 Nov. 2024

The 49ers lost two of their first three coming off the bye to Indianapolis and Arizona before catching fire with a win over the Rams and a strong finish to squeak into the playoffs as a wild card at 10-7. 2020: Week 11, 2-4. —Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1590, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a