offshore

1 of 3

adverb

off·​shore ˈȯf-ˈshȯr How to pronounce offshore (audio)
1
: from the shore : seaward
also : at a distance from the shore
2
: outside the country : abroad

offshore

2 of 3

adjective

off·​shore ˈȯf-ˌshȯr How to pronounce offshore (audio)
1
: coming or moving away from the shore toward the water
an offshore breeze
2
a
: situated off the shore but within waters under a country's control
offshore fisheries
b
: distant from the shore compare inshore
3
: situated or operating in a foreign country
offshore mutual funds
offshore banking

offshore

3 of 3

preposition

off·​shore ˈȯf-ˌshȯr How to pronounce offshore (audio)
: off the shore of

Examples of offshore in a Sentence

Adjective We sailed to an offshore island. He works on an offshore oil rig. They opened an offshore bank account. He traced the money to an offshore investment company.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adverb
Boothbay is the essence of the Maine coast and the heart of the Midcoast Region, a haven for sailors and the gateway to Monhegan Island, which lies about 10 miles offshore. Everett Potter, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024 The company, now defunct, had received a permit in 1959 to dump containerized radioactive waste about 150 miles offshore, according to the U.S. Federal Register. Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times, 21 Feb. 2024 In Taiwanese competitions, rather than racing over land, pigeons are brought out to sea and released 124 miles to 310 miles offshore, said Ya-Ching Huang, a researcher at Boston University who has studied Taiwan’s pigeon racing culture. Kelsey Ables, Washington Post, 6 Feb. 2024 Those types of wagers can be made offshore with sportsbooks such as BetUS, which is based in Costa Rica, and potentially in the Canadian province of Ontario. Mark Anderson, Twin Cities, 31 Jan. 2024 The boat left Cancún on Monday night to take tourists to Isla Mujeres, an island about 3.5 miles offshore from Cancún. Sarah Al-Arshani, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2024 Made mostly of coral, the islands that make up the Keys aren’t known for their beaches at all, although there are a few of those (the stretch at Bahia Honda State Park, good for snorkeling right from the beach in grassy flats just offshore, is one of the finest). Terry Ward, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Feb. 2024 In addition to these causes, the true threat to whales and marine life is not wind turbines many miles offshore, but global warming. Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 1 Feb. 2024 This is part of the latter, situated on Mina Al Arab, an island just offshore from the town of Al Riffa. Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 5 Jan. 2024
Adjective
Florida has zero operational offshore or onshore wind farms, according to 2023 data collected by the federal government. Emily L. Mahoney, Miami Herald, 5 Mar. 2024 For example, in construction or engineering, companies engage offshore civil engineers for the creation of structural drawings, engineering specification documents, bill of material analysis and so much more. Shaveer Mirpuri, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 There's nothing quite like windsurfing at Bird Island Basin, a Texas beach where the real fun is offshore. Pam Leblanc, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Mar. 2024 The teams flew over 27 inshore reefs in the Keppel Islands and Gladstone region and 21 offshore reefs in the Capricorn Bunkers off the coast of southern Queensland last weekend. Helen Regan, CNN, 28 Feb. 2024 Wilford pointed to Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC, which solved its own electrical demands by simply leasing an offshore wind farm in 2020 and generating its power in-house, rather than sourcing it from the grid. Dylan Sloan, Fortune, 27 Feb. 2024 Israel left the Gaza Strip almost two decades ago and, followed by a violent coup by Hamas, watched as the terrorist group diverted humanitarian aid to tunnels and offshore bank accounts, deprived its citizens, and barraged Israel with rockets. TIME, 20 Feb. 2024 The five turbines are operating at full capacity, generating 68 megawatts of power — enough to power about 30,000 homes, according to company officials, who described it as the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the nation to begin initial operations. Steve Leblanc, Fortune, 23 Feb. 2024 Hilary began as an offshore hurricane before making landfall as a tropical storm in the Mexican state of Baja California on Aug. 20. Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2024
Preposition
The Outer Continental Shelf offshore Maine is virgin water for wind. Jeremy Beaman, Washington Examiner, 16 Jan. 2023 Bubbles emerge from a methane seep offshore Virginia. Jeffrey Marlow, Discover Magazine, 7 June 2016 The storm began organizing Friday offshore the Carolinas when two disturbances along the jet stream merged over the Southeast. Washington Post, 30 Jan. 2022 As of this writing, more than 70 container ships are idling offshore the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach because there are not enough dockworkers to unload the cargo, nor are there enough truck drivers to transport the goods. Adam Strauss, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2021 Salmon fishing has been given an additional boost by large schools of juvenile anchovies that have arrived this month offshore the Bay Area coast and in San Francisco Bay. Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 21 Aug. 2020 As for crude inventories, there are also ample stockpiles being housed in onshore tanks and vessels offshore that could hit the market as the economics of storing the crude becomes less attractive. Serene Cheong, Bloomberg.com, 20 May 2020 Echoing Lynch’s comments, Al Cook, executive vice president of Global Strategy and Business Development at Equinor, pointed out the company’s investments in carbon capture and storage near Norway, and a wind energy project offshore Scotland. Katherine Dunn, Fortune, 28 Feb. 2020 Apache has pinned high hopes on Suriname after Exxon Mobil started developing huge oil projects offshore of neighboring Guyana. Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle, 7 Jan. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'offshore.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Adverb

1720, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1769, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Preposition

1942, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of offshore was in 1720

Dictionary Entries Near offshore

Cite this Entry

“Offshore.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/offshore. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

offshore

1 of 2 adverb
off·​shore ˈȯf-ˈshō(ə)r How to pronounce offshore (audio)
-ˈshȯ(ə)r
: from the shore : at a distance from the shore

offshore

2 of 2 adjective
off·​shore ˈȯf-ˌshō(ə)r How to pronounce offshore (audio)
-ˌshȯ(ə)r
1
: coming or moving away from the shore
an offshore breeze
2
: located off the shore
offshore islands
an offshore oil rig

More from Merriam-Webster on offshore

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