offhand

/ˌɔfˈhænd/

offhand adjective: without planning or thinking ahead.

Adjective

offhand (comparative more offhand, superlative most offhand)

Without planning or thinking ahead.
- She gave an offhand speech.
- He must also be fluent in obscenity, offhand in sex. Most important of all, he must play tough.1976 June 7, Nik Cohn, “Inside the Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night”, in New York Magazine
Synonyms:

impromptu
Careless; without sufficient thought or consideration.
- He doesn't realise how hurtful his offhand remarks can be.
- In September 2019, on the papal plane en route to Mozambique, Francis acknowledged the sharp opposition he faced from conservative detractors in the United States in an offhand remark. He said, it was “an honor that the Americans attack me.”2025 April 21, Jason Horowitz, Jim Yardley, “Francis, the First Latin American Pope, Dies at 88”, in The New York Times
Curt, abrupt, unfriendly.
- She was quite offhand with me yesterday.

Adverb

offhand (comparative more offhand, superlative most offhand)

Right away, immediately, without thinking about it.
- Offhand, I'd guess that that's a yellow-bellied sapsucker.
- We will have no more of this shilly-shallying! Call the Archbishop, and let the Prince and Princess be married offhand!1854, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring
Synonyms:

out of hand
In an abrupt or unfriendly manner.

offhand meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada

offhand in Tamil

முயற்சி முனைப்பற்ற, முன்னேற்பாடின்றிச் செய்யப்படுகிற, முன்கருதலுடன் முனைந்து செய்யாத, இயலெளிமைவாய்ந்த, கோடு வகையில் வாரொழுங்கான, கற்றுருவாக்கப்படாத

offhand in Malayalam

careless, casual, uninterested: ഉടനടിയുള്ള, മുന്നൊരുക്കം കൂടാതെയുള്ള, വാചാ, തൽസമയത്തു നടത്തുന്ന, പൂർവ്വാലോച കൂടാതെയുള്ള, എടുത്തപടിയുള്ള
extempore, on the spur of the moment, without consideration: ഉടനടി, പെട്ടെന്ന്, നെെമിഷികമായ പ്രേരണയാൽ, മുൻകരുതലോ ആലോചനയോ കൂടാതെ, പൊടുന്നനവേ, ഝടിതിയിൽ

offhand in Kannada

ಆರಯ್ಯದೆ, ಒಡನೆಯೇ, ಏಕಾಏಕಿಯಾಗಿ, ಹಠಾತ್ತಾಗಿ, ಪೂರ್ವಸಿದ್ಧತೆ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ, ಕೂಡಲೆ

Examples of offhand in a sentence

She loved the way the lecturer stated it, offhand, but with the air of a pompatus.
Can't remember tha author offhand, but can find out if anyone's interested.
Gooding scarcely comprehends how it can be so offhand.

All 14 example sentences with offhand

Synonyms of offhand

Forms of offhand

Adjective
comparative	more offhand
superlative	most offhand
alternative form	off-hand
Adverb
comparative	more offhand
superlative	most offhand

Origin of offhand

From Middle English *ofhande, *ofhende, from Old English ofhende (“absent, lost”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *abahandijaz. Equivalent to (and re-formed as) off- + hand. Cognate with Icelandic afhendur. Compare onhand.

Words that rhyme with offhand

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about offhand

What does offhand mean?: Offhand means without planning or thinking ahead.
What is offhand in Tamil?: Offhand in Tamil is முயற்சி முனைப்பற்ற, முன்னேற்பாடின்றிச் செய்யப்படுகிற, முன்கருதலுடன் முனைந்து செய்யாத. See Offhand meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is offhand?: Offhand can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce offhand?: Offhand is pronounced /ˌɔfˈhænd/ (US).

Words near offhand in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: offhand (page history and authors); offhand (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); offhand (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); offhand (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-offhand.ogg.

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