as in impromptu
made or done without previous thought or preparation
a quick, offhanded suggestion that was actually much better than any of the prepared proposals
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Recent Examples of offhanded
Its language, instead, is a chilly French chicness: spiky, refined, offhanded, exuding effortlessness through extraordinary effort.
—
Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 27 July 2025
Mistress constantly has her wheels turning looking for avenues to rattle the queens, but Nicole does so with a single offhanded comment that cuts to the quick.
—Chris Feil, Vulture, 23 May 2025
During last week's postgame media availability, Jalen Hurts made a seemingly offhanded comment about Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.
—Chantz Martin, Fox News, 1 Feb. 2025
In a recent interview, the former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made an offhanded comment that connected a few dots for me.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 4 Nov. 2024
That isn’t to say that Le Gros, a true indie O.G. who seems to get better with age, and McCarthy don’t give equally nuanced turns, or that Donaldson’s deft way of embedding deep, complicated back stories in offhanded conversational details don’t add to the film immensely.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 11 Aug. 2024
With his offhanded singsong delivery, spare instrumentation and arsenal of songs that manage to be simultaneously downcast and extravagant, Drake has wielded an outsized influence on the sound of mainstream hip-hop and even R&B the past decade.
—Brian McCollum, USA TODAY, 9 July 2023
But an earlier vérité shot, where Curry drops a seemingly offhanded comment after chatting with former teammate Kevin Durant, should titillate the SportsCenter crowd.
—Bill Edelstein, Variety, 29 Apr. 2023
Journalist David Sirota floated the idea of his friend Adam McKay (an Oscar winner for The Big Short) directing a film about the climate crisis and made an offhanded comment about how the situation feels like an asteroid is headed toward Earth and nobody cares.
—Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Mar. 2022
Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 27 July 2025
Mistress constantly has her wheels turning looking for avenues to rattle the queens, but Nicole does so with a single offhanded comment that cuts to the quick.
—Chris Feil, Vulture, 23 May 2025
During last week's postgame media availability, Jalen Hurts made a seemingly offhanded comment about Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.
—Chantz Martin, Fox News, 1 Feb. 2025
In a recent interview, the former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made an offhanded comment that connected a few dots for me.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 4 Nov. 2024
That isn’t to say that Le Gros, a true indie O.G. who seems to get better with age, and McCarthy don’t give equally nuanced turns, or that Donaldson’s deft way of embedding deep, complicated back stories in offhanded conversational details don’t add to the film immensely.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 11 Aug. 2024
With his offhanded singsong delivery, spare instrumentation and arsenal of songs that manage to be simultaneously downcast and extravagant, Drake has wielded an outsized influence on the sound of mainstream hip-hop and even R&B the past decade.
—Brian McCollum, USA TODAY, 9 July 2023
But an earlier vérité shot, where Curry drops a seemingly offhanded comment after chatting with former teammate Kevin Durant, should titillate the SportsCenter crowd.
—Bill Edelstein, Variety, 29 Apr. 2023
Journalist David Sirota floated the idea of his friend Adam McKay (an Oscar winner for The Big Short) directing a film about the climate crisis and made an offhanded comment about how the situation feels like an asteroid is headed toward Earth and nobody cares.
—Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Mar. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for offhanded
Adjective
-
All students must complete an impromptu essay, which involves reading a short text and responding to a question about it within a two-hour time limit.—
Rory Linnane,
jsonline.com,
3 Oct. 2025
-
In public, Mark Kerr speaks amiably about his trainer turned rival and even takes him along for a rowdy impromptu meet-and-greet, but the lack of friction comes off less as a sign of his unflappability than of Safdie’s indifference to probing a friendship beyond buddy-comedy depth.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Two months later, the group launched more than two dozen attacks across northeastern Syria, relying on a combination of guerrilla tactics, including small arms fire, ambushes, assassinations, and improvised explosive devices targeting military checkpoints and government vehicles.—
Caroline Rose,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Sep. 2025
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The researchers believe this error was not from its knowledge base but was an improvised guess based on their prior conversation about the square’s diagonal.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
17 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The film, shot in the sort of seemingly improvisational, realistic style championed by John Cassavetes, may be too raw for mainstream consumption, but deservingly snagged the festival’s award for Best First Feature.—
Frank Scheck,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Oct. 2025
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By comparison, campaign two felt more scattered and improvisational (befitting a D&D game).—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Offhanded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/offhanded. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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