off the pace
idiom
US
: behind in a race, competition, etc.
The winner finished in 4 minutes, 30 seconds, and the next runner was three seconds off the pace.
Examples of off the pace in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Then, Lawson was way off the pace of teammate Max Verstappen, and Tsunoda was given his chance.
—
Nelson Espinal, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Aug. 2025
Karl Darlow made a couple of important interventions during his 45 minutes in goal but Isaac Schmidt, who is likely to leave before the window closes, was a little off the pace and heavy with his touch after an injury lay-off to start pre-season.
—Beren Cross, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2025
The team entered play Monday with a 52-53 record, eight games off the pace of the front-running Detroit Tigers in the American League Central but just three-and-a-half removed from the third and final wild-card spot.
—Dan Schlossberg, Forbes.com, 29 July 2025
That’s quite a bit off the pace from the analogous night in 2019, when nearly 20% of all adults under 50 were watching TV, and worlds apart from the 30% rates that were standard throughout the aughts.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for off the pace
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Nelson Espinal, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Aug. 2025
Karl Darlow made a couple of important interventions during his 45 minutes in goal but Isaac Schmidt, who is likely to leave before the window closes, was a little off the pace and heavy with his touch after an injury lay-off to start pre-season.
—Beren Cross, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2025
The team entered play Monday with a 52-53 record, eight games off the pace of the front-running Detroit Tigers in the American League Central but just three-and-a-half removed from the third and final wild-card spot.
—Dan Schlossberg, Forbes.com, 29 July 2025
That’s quite a bit off the pace from the analogous night in 2019, when nearly 20% of all adults under 50 were watching TV, and worlds apart from the 30% rates that were standard throughout the aughts.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for off the pace
Cite this Entry
“Off the pace.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/off%20the%20pace. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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