What does "off-broadway" mean?

In the New York City area, a small theater with fewer than 300 seats, or a production in such a theater, usually away from the Broadway theater district, which operates under special rules from the theatrical unions and permits mounting productions at a much lower cost.

Off-broadway

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
In the New York City area, a small theater with fewer than 300 seats, or a production in such a theater, usually away from the Broadway theater district, which operates under special rules from the theatrical unions and permits mounting productions at a much lower cost. capitalized, often

Adjective

1
Of or pertaining to an off-Broadway theater, or a production mounted in one. not-comparable
"Little Shop of Horrors is probably the most famous of the off-Broadway productions."

Example

More examples

"Little Shop of Horrors is probably the most famous of the off-Broadway productions."

Etymology

From off- + Broadway.

Related phrases

off-off-Broadway off-off-off-Broadway

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.