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

His plans to start a business never came off.

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 of come off

• happen
• be
• come
• come to pass
• occur
• come down

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

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, the 40-year-old 11-time world major marathon winner and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was with the lead pack coming off the Queensboro bridge at around the 17-mile mark before falling off slightly. —Bette Canter, Sportico.com, 2 Nov. 2025

Nichelle Prince came off the bench to replace an injured Bia Zaneratto and scored the game-winner in the 75th minute. —Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 2 Nov. 2025

This can include setting screens or coming off of one. —Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 2 Nov. 2025

There, Smith’s back foot came off the dish for a moment. —Chandler Rome, New York Times, 2 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1590, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Rhymes for come off

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