Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use offing in a sentence

11 example sentences · noun

Offing means the area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground. Example: “They could see that the ship was waiting in the offing.”

Examples of offing by meaning

nounThe area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and...

  • to see (a ship) in the offing

More sentences with offing

  • They could see that the ship was waiting in the offing.From the entry in the offing
  • There were several small islands in the offing.From the entry in the offing
  • When her cat figured out that a trip to the vet was in the offing, he took off towards the closet at the speed of light.From the entry speed of light
  • As I write, big changes are in the offing for this long-established, uncamp, uncomplicated gay local.2000, Edward Sullivan, Evening Standard London Pub Bar Guide 1999. From the entry uncamp
  • As still more patients were in the offing, the staff continued to be busy right through the noon hour.1931, Caroline Gardner, Clever Country: Kentucky Mountain Trails, page 115. From the entry have full hands
  • This type of betting is referred to as an “assassination market” because it arguably incentivizes someone to guarantee a win by offing the person themselves.2018 July 25, Daniel Oberhaus, “Assassination Markets for Jeff Bezos, Betty White, and Donald Trump Are On the Blockchain”, in Vice…. From the entry assassination market
  • The deal had been in the offing for a while—I really had no bearing on it—but it was signed, sealed, and delivered that week.2009, Jesse Ventura, Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!, page 105. From the entry signed, sealed, and delivered
  • Speaking about Canada, where I teach, while the canon remains the raison d’etre of the discipline, some changes have come about and more are in the offing.2016, Arun P. Mukherjee, “English Studies in Contemporary India”, in M. Sridhar, Sunita Mishra, editors, Language Policy and Education in…. From the entry more
  • With a nationful of prospective Russian teachers in the offing and Annie no longer plagued by nausea, she saw her usefulness to the Graylins at an end.2010, Carola Dunn, chapter 7, in Lady in the Briars, Belgrave House, →ISBN. From the entry nationful
  • His clever work is now bearing fruit with recognition by the United States in the offing and other major nations may be expected to follow suit.1933, The Magazine of Wall Street, volume 53, page 64. From the entry post-Soviet

Meaning of offing

  1. noun The area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground.
  2. noun The distance that a ship at sea keeps away from land, often because of navigational dangers, fog and other hazards; a position at a distance from shore.
  3. noun The foreseeable future. Chiefly in the phrase in the offing.

Full definition of offing

Questions about offing in a sentence

How do you use offing in a sentence?
Offing is used as a noun. For example: “They could see that the ship was waiting in the offing.”
What is a short sentence with offing?
“to see (a ship) in the offing”
What does offing mean?
Offing means the area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: offing (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use offing in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/offing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.