written off

verb

past participle of write off
1
as in dismissed
to express scornfully one's low opinion of most critics have already written off that director as a hack incapable of turning out anything but schlock

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in reduced
to diminish the price or value of that one blunder will write off to nothing all the goodwill we've been building up

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of written off Goldenrod Originally written off as a weed, goldenrod is now beloved by many gardeners for its hardiness and colorful blooms. — Abby Monteil, The Spruce, 5 Sep. 2026 Andrew Shue, Melrose Place Andrew Shue’s Billy Campbell got written off Melrose Place in 1998, early in the show’s final season, and the actor barely looked back. — Jp Mangalindan, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Aug. 2026 On the mound, his 288 victories were written off by some Hall voters (though not this one) because his career spanned 26 seasons. — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 23 Aug. 2026 Dozens of sunken skiffs and speedboats, long written off by their owners, sat dry on the sand. — Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026 The train is, of course, a classic example of the perennial perils of sunk costs; abandoning the line seems absurd (even to us) given how much money would be written off. — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026 And the larger entertainment industry is taking note of the uptick in audience interest in unscripted, giving more weight to slates that were previously written off. — Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 12 Aug. 2026 Not long ago, the announcement would have been written off as yet another blockchain trial balloon. — Nina Bambysheva, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026 She was written off when her character died from a brain tumor in season 9. — Makena Gera, PEOPLE, 6 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for written off
  1. dismissed
  2. reduced
  3. run down
  4. written down
  5. played down
  6. sunk
  7. talked down
Verb
  • Following the meeting, the president dismissed the idea of new AI rules and reiterated his view that the industry should police itself.
    — Jeff Masonand Michael Shepard Bloomberg, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Like his brother, John had at first dismissed the idea of an American being elected to the papacy.
    — Scott Detrow, NPR, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of dismissed
Verb
  • To help pay for its tax cuts, the act reduced Medicaid payments by a trillion dollars over the next decade, though it was designed to delay the full impact of the cuts until 2027, after this year’s elections.
    — Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
  • The agency reduced service earlier this year and has proposed more cuts in recent board meetings.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of reduced
Verb
  • In the world of Dune, the suit transforms the sweat into drinking water; but in the Mexican desert, the sweat just pools, sticks to my skin and runs down my arms.
    — Kyle Maclachlan, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The worst came during the early hours of July 28, when heavy rains fell on already soggy ground, running down steep hills into narrow river valleys — a perfect recipe for fast, devastating flooding.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of run down
Verb
  • For another, a cookbook of family recipes nobody had written down.
    — Jamie Farmer, Forbes.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • They were first written down in the mid-19th century, and have been central to the study of fluid mechanics ever since.
    — Konstantin Kakaes, Quanta Magazine, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of written down
Verb
  • Trottier played down the middle in both games in his first rookie tournament and handled himself admirably.
    — Scott Wheeler, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • With the Kroenke deal, the Angels will plug into a much larger sports and media ecosystem that should benefit the team that has always played down the road in Orange County in the shadow of the region’s beloved Los Angeles Dodgers franchise.
    — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of played down
Verb
  • The elements of the Pulitzer commission (three steel elevation markers sunk into the ground, their top edges, like those of Shift, parallel to the horizon) cannot be seen together from a single vantage.
    — Jeffrey Weiss, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • According to a December 2024 University of Miami study, Sunny Isles Beach waterfront buildings have sunk as much as 3 inches.
    — Miami Herald staff, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of sunk
Verb
  • Oversimplifying things, on the other hand, would leave hardcore fans feeling as if they were being talked down to.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
  • There is a sense that it is patronised and talked down to a lot of the time.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of talked down

Browse Nearby Words

written down
written off
written up
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Cite this Entry

“Written off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/written%20off. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.

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