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View synonyms for off-the-record

off-the-record

[ awf-thuh-rek-erd, of- ]

adjective

  1. not for publication; not to be quoted:

    a candidate's off-the-record remarks to reporters.

  2. confidential:

    off-the-record information.



off the record

adjective

  1. not intended for publication or disclosure; confidential
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. with such an intention; unofficially
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of off-the-record1

First recorded in 1930–35
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Idioms and Phrases

Unofficially, in confidence, not for publication, as in What he was about to say, he told the reporters, was strictly off the record . Probably alluding to striking evidence from a court record (because it is irrelevant or improper), this term came into wide use in the mid-1900s, especially with reference to persons who did not wish to be quoted by journalists. For antonyms, see go on record ; just for the record .
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Example Sentences

In June 2022, after Terry attended a private “off-the-record” meeting that included Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, senior State Department officials and several other Korea policy experts, a South Korean agent in a car registered to the South Korean Embassy picked her up and photographed her handwritten notes, according to the indictment.

Vance, whose never-Trumpism wasn’t whispered in private or dished to reporters off-the-record, but published in first-person essays in the Atlantic.

From Slate

Mr. Lewis has acknowledged having an off-the-record conversation with Mr. Folkenflik, whom he called an “activist.”

Mr. Lewis said he’d had an off-the-record conversation with the reporter, whom he described as “an activist, not a journalist.”

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Folkenflik said he did not violate an off-the-record agreement with Mr. Lewis to report Thursday’s article.

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Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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off the railsoff-the-shelf