Offhand

//ˌɔfˈhænd// adj, adv

adj, adv ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Without planning or thinking ahead.

    "She gave an offhand speech."

  2. 2
    Careless; without sufficient thought or consideration.

    "He doesn't realise how hurtful his offhand remarks can be."

  3. 3
    Curt, abrupt, unfriendly.

    "She was quite offhand with me yesterday."

Adjective
  1. 1
    casually thoughtless or inconsiderate wordnet
  2. 2
    with little or no preparation or forethought wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    Right away, immediately, without thinking about it.

    "Offhand, I'd guess that that's a yellow-bellied sapsucker."

  2. 2
    In an abrupt or unfriendly manner.
Adverb
  1. 1
    in a casually inconsiderate manner wordnet
  2. 2
    without previous thought or preparation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
casualeasyextemporaneousglibimpromptuoffhanded

Example

More examples

"I am unable to say anything offhand."

Etymology

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.

Related phrases

off top of one's head

More for "offhand"

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