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

So Katie came off the bench and put up 15 points in a 54-51 win over scrappy Northfield with a brace, having dinged her kneecap about a month ago. —Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 15 Mar. 2026

Bennedict Mathurin came off the bench to score 24 points. —Jason Anderson, Sacbee.com, 15 Mar. 2026

Guard Amare Campbell came off the bench to lead East Bay with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, adding 11 rebounds and four assists. —Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2026

Despite standing as an impending free agent and coming off his first All-Star appearance just a month ago, Powell expressed a desire to go with the flow. —Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 15 Mar. 2026

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