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
2
: succeed
a television series that never came offTV Guide
3
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

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Chase Hunter leads the Tigers in scoring and is coming off an efficient 21-point game in their quarterfinals game against SMU. Mark Davis, Newsweek, 15 Mar. 2025 The Wolfpack were ranked No. 13 at the time and coming off a Final Four appearance. Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Mar. 2025 Other players were considered but none of those deals came off, so O’Neil went into the season with Dawson, Bueno, Mosquera and Toti as his centre-backs. Steve Madeley, The Athletic, 14 Mar. 2025 In Lou’s vision, the ongoing lockdown—the ubiquitous, harassing security forces, the intrusive I.D. checks and temperature readings, the pervasive information-gathering—comes off as both a symbol of a regime of surveillance and censorship and a relentless intensification of that system. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for come off

Word History

First Known Use

1590, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of come off was in 1590

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Cite this Entry

“Come off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/come%20off. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.

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