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

For all his success, Castillo might not have liked his opportunities to sign a major league contract for the 2026 season coming off an up-and-down year. —Jon Paul Hoornstra, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Dec. 2025

Lozano came off the bench at halftime Saturday and scored SDFC’s only goal, a spectacular shot from distance that sailed over Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka before dipping into the net. —Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Dec. 2025

There was little complexity in linebacker Alex Singleton’s message, coming off a timeout. —Luca Evans, Denver Post, 1 Dec. 2025

Allende, coming off back-to-back braces, scored his first Miami hat trick. —Miami Herald, 30 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