throw off

verb

threw off; thrown off; throwing off; throws off

transitive verb

1

a

: to free oneself from : get rid of

threw off his inhibitions

b

: to cast off often in a hurried or vigorous manner : abandon

threw off all restraint

c

: distract, divert

dogs thrown off by a false scent

2

: emit, give off

stacks throwing off plumes of smoke

3

: to produce in an offhand manner : execute with speed or facility

some little … tune that the composer had thrown off

—James Hilton

4

a

: to cause to depart from an expected or desired course

mistakes threw his calculations off a bit

b

: to cause to make a mistake : mislead

5

: earn, generate

an investment that throws off a sizable income

intransitive verb

1

: to begin hunting

2

: to make derogatory comments

Synonyms

• distract
• divert

Examples of throw off in a Sentence

the sudden noise just threw me off completely, and I missed my shot

Recent Examples on the Web

Mayfield admired the chess match Warner played last game with Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, whose visual cues tried to throw off Warner’s tracking sense. —Cam Inman, Mercury News, 11 Oct. 2025

The next step for Horton, who’s recovering from a fractured right rib, will be throwing off a mound on Tuesday at Wrigley Field. —Andy McCullough, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025

Later, she’s thrown off school grounds for stealing office supplies and sports equipment. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025

Neuroscientists are only scratching the surface of what happens when the networks are thrown off balance, but the work could lead to more treatments to fix them, Cembrowski said. —Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta Magazine, 29 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1b

Rhymes for throw off

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

Kids Definition

throw off

verb

: to send out : emit

a sparkler throws off sparks