Lexic.us

Definition of Offhand

1. Adjective. With little or no preparation or forethought. "A few unrehearsed comments"

2. Adverb. Without previous thought or preparation. "She had made these remarks offhandedly"

3. Adjective. Casually thoughtless or inconsiderate. "She treated most men with offhand contempt"

4. Adverb. In a casually inconsiderate manner. "She threw him over offhandedly without even a Dear-John letter"

Definition of Offhand

1. a. Instant; ready; extemporaneous; as, an offhand speech; offhand excuses.

Definition of Offhand

1. Adjective. without planning or thinking ahead ¹

2. Adjective. careless; without sufficient thought or consideration ¹

3. Adjective. curt, abrupt, unfriendly ¹

4. Adverb. right away, immediately, without thinking about it ¹

5. Adverb. in an offhand manner ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Offhand

1. without preparation [adv]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Offhand

offerer offerers offerest offereth offering offering protection offerings offeror offerors offers

offertories offertory offerture offertures offfield offhand (current term) offhanded offhandedly offhandedness offhandednesses

offhold office office-bearer office-house office-wall office-walls office automation office block office boy office boys

Literary usage of Offhand

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage by Inc. Merriam-Webster (1994)
"About offhanded there is little to be said except that it is a standard word which was first recorded in 1835 and is used in much the same way as offhand, ..."

2. Free-hand Lettering by Victor T. Wilson (1912)
"How to Handle the Pen for offhand Lettering. ... Referring, for a time, in what follows to the offhand letter, such as on Plates VIII and IX, ..."

3. Heroes and Heroines of Fiction: Modern Prose and Poetry by William Shepard Walsh (1914)
"To stumble upon a fine country house, to find in it a lady of exquisite beauty and amazing intellectual qualifications, to many her offhand and bury her in ..."

4. Revised Record of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York by New York (State). Constitutional Convention (1916)
"I could not say, offhand, whether there have been any. Hill is the only one, I am now informed, Governor Hill. So, as a practical matter, during the history ..."

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