Word.ws English Dictionary

off-colour

off-colour is the alternative spelling of off-color.

Meaning of off-color

Adjective

off-color (comparative more off-color, superlative most off-color)

  1. Of the wrong color.
    • Careful control of mixing at the central point reduces the possibility of off-color paint in some booths, and uniform pressure at the spray guns is easily maintained.1936, Chemical Industries, volume 38, page 400
  2. (idiomatic) Dirty, vulgar or obscene, especially in a way that is unpleasant.
    • He told an off-color joke.
  3. (idiomatic) Different from usual.
    • Since Zappa treats subject matter, dialogue, and song as musical material, Permanent Damage has a casual off-color quality. Permanent Damage and An Evening with Wild Man Fischer were works of oddball sociology as much as they were rock and roll records.2007, Kevin Courrier, Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica
  4. (idiomatic) Feeling mildly unwell.
    • I feel a bit off-color today.

Forms of off-colour

comparativemore off-colour
superlativemost off-colour

Questions about off-colour

What is off-colour the alternative spelling of?
Off-colour is the alternative spelling of off-color.

Words near off-colour in the dictionary

  1. off-centre
  2. off-chain
  3. off-chance
  4. off-collab
  5. off-color
  6. off-colour
  7. off-coloured
  8. off-come
  9. off-corn
  10. off-day
  11. off-dry

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: off-colour (page history and authors); off-color (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “off-colour.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/off-colour. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.