tee off

verb

teed off; teeing off; tees off

intransitive verb

1

: to drive from a tee

2

: begin, start

3

: to hit hard

4

: to make an angry denunciation

—often used with on

Examples of tee off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The golfers were teeing off on the 12th hole when the bear made its appearance. — Lauren Paige Richeson, USA Today, 17 July 2026

Former players and golf analysts teed off on DeChambeau's comments, saying that his focus on YouTube golf over competitive professional golf affected his majors performance. — Dan Zaksheske Outkick, FOXNews.com, 16 July 2026

Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland will tee off shortly in a sudden-death playoff at the Travelers Championship after both finishing 21 under par. — Chris Branch, New York Times, 29 June 2026

That sent Cole into the clubhouse 7-under in the early afternoon, with some of the best golfers in the world teeing off later on. — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 25 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1895, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for tee off

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

Kids Definition

tee off

verb

1

: to hit a golf ball from a tee in starting play on a hole

2

: begin sense 1, start