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

Both teams are looking for a healthy seven-game series, but the Knicks seeing their best scorer heading off the court early isn't the way the Eastern Conference champions wanted to kick off their first trip to the NBA Finals since 1999 against these same Spurs. —Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 4 June 2026

Brazil will head off to their World Cup headquarters in New Jersey this week with a spring in their step after a commanding victory against Panama on Sunday night. —Jack Lang, New York Times, 1 June 2026

In Rouen, a small group headed off to the D-Day landing beaches, one of Uniworld’s Masterpiece Collection experiences (available at an additional cost), while in Vernon, a visit to a local cider farm was a hit with passengers. —Chrissie McClatchie, Travel + Leisure, 31 May 2026

Trista and Ryan Sutter celebrated as their son Max wrapped up his high school career and headed off to college. —Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 30 May 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