head off

verb

headed off; heading off; heads off

transitive verb

: to turn back or turn aside : block, prevent

head them off at the pass

attempts to head off the imminent crisis

intransitive verb

: to go to another place

See you later—I'm heading off to work.

Synonyms of head off

• prevent
• avert

Examples of head off in a Sentence

if we act quickly, we may still be able to head off disaster

Recent Examples on the Web

Sadly, there are no plans for this sleek beast to be heading off-road outside of mainland China at this stage. — New Atlas, 4 Aug. 2026

Phish’s summer tour continues Saturday night at Fenway again before the band heads off to Denver’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for a tour-ending Labor Day weekend trio of shows. — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 1 Aug. 2026

The chances of these complications drop with good prenatal care and thorough screening and monitoring to head off issues early. — Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 29 July 2026

After sitting down to get her hair done, Martha had just enough time to grout her kitchen floors before heading off to New York City to begin her workday. — Madeline Buiano, Martha Stewart, 22 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1825, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for head off

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