Word.ws English Dictionary

off label

off label adjective: outside of regulatorily approved indications, but (unless otherwise specified) within the bounds of reasonable use as defined by a licensed prescriber.

Adjective

off label (not comparable)

  1. Outside of regulatorily approved indications, but (unless otherwise specified) within the bounds of reasonable use as defined by a licensed prescriber.
    • The use of colchicine for gout is FDA approved, whereas the use of colchicine for pericarditis is off label (but is widely respected).
    • Off label use of colchicine for pericarditis is widely respected.

Adverb

off label (not comparable)

  1. Outside of regulatorily approved indications, but (unless otherwise specified) within the bounds of reasonable use as defined by a licensed prescriber.
    • While the drug is approved for use in treating stomach cancer, many doctors prescribe it off label for other cancers as well.

Forms of off label

alternative formoff-label

Questions about off label

What does off label mean?
Off label means outside of regulatorily approved indications, but (unless otherwise specified) within the bounds of reasonable use as defined by a licensed prescriber.
What part of speech is off label?
Off label can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near off label in the dictionary

  1. off drives
  2. off duty
  3. off guard
  4. off keel
  5. off kilter
  6. off label
  7. off licence
  8. off licences
  9. off like a bride's nightie
  10. off like a dirty shirt
  11. off like a prom dress

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: off label (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 label.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/off_label. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.