reel off

verb

reeled off; reeling off; reels off

transitive verb

1

: to tell or recite readily and usually at length

reel off a few jokes to break the ice

2

: to chalk up usually as a series

Synonyms of reel off

• recite
• memorize

Examples of reel off in a Sentence

he's able to reel off the names of all the U.S. presidents, in historical order and without pausing

her friend proceeded to reel off the roster of losers that she had dated over the years

Recent Examples on the Web

Holtmann's squad has reeled off four straight Big East home wins, equaling their total number of victories in conference in his first season. —Matt Zahn, CBS News, 28 Jan. 2026

The Tigers reeled off a 6-2 spurt, but 10 points each from Dailyn Swain and Jordan Pope still give the Longhorns a double-digit cushion. —Thomas Jones, Austin American Statesman, 28 Jan. 2026

The Pats started the year 1-2 before reeling off 16 wins in their final 17 games. —Kurt Badenhausen, Sportico.com, 26 Jan. 2026

Tauson won the first game of the deciding set at love, but Mboko regrouped, reeled off four straight games and captured the match in 2 hours, 19 minutes. —Reuters, NBC news, 23 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for reel off

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

Kids Definition

reel off

verb

: to tell or recite rapidly and easily

reeled off the right answers