go off

verb

went off; gone off; going off; goes off

intransitive verb

1

a

: explode

b

of a gun : shoot sense 1

2

: to burst forth or break out suddenly or noisily

3

: to go forth, out, or away : leave

went off to join the army

4

: to undergo decline or deterioration

5

: to follow the expected or desired course : proceed

The party went off well.

6

: to make a characteristic noise : sound

could hear the alarm going off

7

: to stop working

All the lights suddenly went off.

see also:

go off the deep end go off with

Synonyms of go off

• explode
• detonate
• pop
• blow
• burst

Examples of go off in a Sentence

specialists were able to deactivate the bomb before it went off

the wedding went off without so much as a single glitch

Recent Examples on the Web

The song went off at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show over the weekend (a perfect booking) and Tate has never been buzzier, so this could be the one that catapults her to the next pop tier. — Katie Atkinson, Billboard, 20 Oct. 2026

Wemby and the Spurs are gearing up for their season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, and ahead of it, the team went off to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. — Matt Reigle Outkick, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2026

The Arena rules also require that a human participant drives each AI agent being tested, and anyone caught ignoring an agent that goes off doing things it shouldn’t is barred from the competition and future ones. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026

No story details have been released for season 3, but going off what happens in the season 2 finale, there’s some idea. — Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1560, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for go off

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

Kids Definition

go off

verb

1

: explode sense 2b

2

: to burst forth or break out suddenly or noisily

3

: to take place : proceed

the dance went off as planned