pass off
verb
passed off; passing off; passes off
1
: to make public or offer for sale with intent to deceive
2
: to give a false identity or character to
Examples of pass off in a Sentence
the con man tried to pass off a piece of blue glass as a sapphire
Recent Examples on the Web
Still, that’s hardly a hurdle for anyone motivated to pass off AI generated images as authentic.
—
IEEE Spectrum, 7 Aug. 2025
But these chatbots are also employed to quickly generate text from scratch, with some users passing off the words as their own.
—Roger J. Kreuz, The Conversation, 30 July 2025
When fakes are passed off as the real thing, of course that would lead to murder.
—Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 11 June 2025
My job is to proctor the election and pass off the gavel; that's it.
—Kayla Dwyer, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for pass off
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IEEE Spectrum, 7 Aug. 2025
But these chatbots are also employed to quickly generate text from scratch, with some users passing off the words as their own.
—Roger J. Kreuz, The Conversation, 30 July 2025
When fakes are passed off as the real thing, of course that would lead to murder.
—Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 11 June 2025
My job is to proctor the election and pass off the gavel; that's it.
—Kayla Dwyer, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for pass off
Cite this Entry
“Pass off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pass%20off. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
pass off
transitive verb1
: to make public or offer for sale (goods or services) with intent to deceive : palm off
passing his product off as that of the plaintiff's—W. L. Prosser and W. P. Keeton
see also unfair competition
W. L. Prosser and W. P. Keeton2
: to give a false identity or character to
they created the documents on the day of the trial and passed them off as being made earlier
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