off-screen

adverb or adjective

variants or offscreen
1
: out of sight of the movie or television viewer
a shot fired off-screen
Before long, Anthony introduces himself to the family pooch, who is whooshed away to an off-screen death.Kris Turnquist
2
: in private life : when not appearing in a movie, on television, etc.
Moyer's off-screen magnetism comes from a down-to-earth friendliness.Kate Hahn
Pfeiffer, 34, remains a mystery woman offscreen.Michael A. Lipton

Examples of off-screen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Their collaboration continued off-screen, with the launch of The Wedding Dance School in 2020, which helps couples choreograph their first dance. Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025 The love fest is apparent off-screen, too, even though the actors had never worked together before. Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Sep. 2025 DiCaprio has done very few comedies and may have been eager to stretch those muscles; climate change, a major theme of the film, is the signature DiCaprio off-screen cause; heck, Christian Bale got an Oscar nomination for McKay’s last movie. Tim Grierson, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025 While Sistas offers no shortage of ups and downs among the characters, in reality, many of the show's stars have established relationships and families off-screen. Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 25 Sep. 2025 The same goes for bosses, who often end up entirely out of sight off-screen, preparing to drop a bomb-sized blow that takes up almost the entire arena. Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 18 Sep. 2025 Prime Video But tragedy occurred off-screen in March 2024, when Perdomo died as a result of a motorcycle accident at 27 years old. Olivia Singh, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025 Although Jon Cryer recently appeared in Charlie Sheen‘s documentary, the former onscreen brothers appear to have lost touch off-screen. Glenn Garner, Deadline, 14 Sep. 2025 As the murder mystery unfolds on-screen, the cast also balances parenthood off-screen. Francesca Gariano, People.com, 14 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1916, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of off-screen was in 1916

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Cite this Entry

“Off-screen.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/off-screen. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

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