go off

verb

went off; gone off; going off; goes off

intransitive verb

1

: explode

2

: to burst forth or break out suddenly or noisily

3

: to go forth, out, or away : leave

4

: to undergo decline or deterioration

5

: to follow the expected or desired course : proceed

the party went off well

6

: to make a characteristic noise : sound

could hear the alarm going off

Phrases

go off the deep end

1

: to enter recklessly on a course

2

: to become very much excited

Synonyms

• explode
• detonate
• pop
• blow
• burst

Examples of go off in a Sentence

specialists were able to deactivate the bomb before it went off

the wedding went off without so much as a single glitch

Recent Examples on the Web

Another was the revelation of the daughter Morrow left behind before going off on a years-long space mission. —EW.com, 3 Sep. 2025

Bonnaroo's Thursday sets, which included Dom Dolla and Luke Combs, went off without a hitch on June 12, Smith said. —Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean, 3 Sep. 2025

The alarm on my phone went off. —Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2025

But there is a patient movement calling for more research on the long-term effects of going off antidepressants. —Emily Kwong, NPR, 2 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for go off

• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff
• falloff
• handoff
• kickoff
• layoff
• liftoff
• markoff
• markov
• payoff
• playoff

Kids Definition

go off

verb

1

: explode sense 2b

2

: to burst forth or break out suddenly or noisily

3

: to take place : proceed

the dance went off as planned