offshore

[awf-shawr, -shohr, of-]

adverb

1. off or away from the shore;

   They pushed the boat offshore.

2. at a distance from the shore, on a body of water.

   looking for oil offshore.

3. in a foreign country.

adjective

1. moving or tending away from the shore toward or into a body of water.

   an offshore wind.

2. located or operating on a body of water, at some distance from the shore.

   offshore fisheries.

3. registered, located, conducted, or operated in a foreign country.

   an offshore investment company; offshore manufacture of car parts.

verb (used with or without object)

1. (of a company or organization) to move jobs or business activities from the home territory to a foreign country: At this time, the manufacturing division has no plans to offshore.

   When our IT services were offshored to Malaysia, I lost my job.

   At this time, the manufacturing division has no plans to offshore.

offshore

/ ˌɒfˈʃɔː /

adjective

1. from, away from, or at some distance from the shore

2. overseas; abroad

adjective

1. sited or conducted at sea as opposed to on land

   offshore industries

2. based or operating abroad in places where the tax system is more advantageous than that of the home country

   offshore banking

   offshore fund

offshore

1. The relatively flat, irregularly shaped zone that extends outward from the breaker zone to the edge of the continental shelf. The water depth in this area is usually at least 10 m (33 ft). The offshore is continually submerged.

Other Word Forms

• offshoring noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of offshore¹

First recorded in 1710–20; off + shore ¹

Example Sentences

The pipelines, which linked Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, were the world’s largest offshore gas conduits at the time.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The licensing of offshore oil and gas fields, whether for exploration or extraction, is a matter reserved to the UK government.

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Once again, a flood of fuel is being stashed offshore.

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Sea currents speed up as they pass around the base of a wind turbine and can cause erosion, so scour pads - made up of rocks - are often installed around the foot of offshore turbines.

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In July 2015 a coastguard in Dover told the BBC that two migrants had been rescued from a dinghy just offshore in the Channel.

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