go off

verb

went off; gone off; going off; goes off

intransitive verb

1

a

: explode

b

of a gun : shoot sense 1

2

: to burst forth or break out suddenly or noisily

3

: to go forth, out, or away : leave

went off to join the army

4

: to undergo decline or deterioration

5

: to follow the expected or desired course : proceed

The party went off well.

6

: to make a characteristic noise : sound

could hear the alarm going off

7

: to stop working

All the lights suddenly went off.

see also:

go off the deep end go off with

Synonyms of go off

• explode
• detonate
• pop
• blow
• burst

Examples of go off in a Sentence

specialists were able to deactivate the bomb before it went off

the wedding went off without so much as a single glitch

Recent Examples on the Web

One evening back in May of 2011, tornado sirens went off in a small city in Southwestern Missouri called Joplin. —Rebecca Ramirez, NPR, 23 June 2026

By the second day of braiding, a light bulb went off in her engineer's brain. —Annie Blay-Tettey, Allure, 23 June 2026

Three people died after their car went off cliff on Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Monday night, authorities said. —Cecilio Padilla, CBS News, 23 June 2026

An initial investigation determined that the BMW was eastbound on the highway when the driver lost control, causing the vehicle to go off the road and down a steep embankment. —Robert Salonga, Mercury News, 23 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1560, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for go off

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

Kids Definition

go off

verb

1

: explode sense 2b

2

: to burst forth or break out suddenly or noisily

3

: to take place : proceed

the dance went off as planned