go off

verb

went off; gone off; going off; goes off

intransitive verb

1

: explode

2

: to burst forth or break out suddenly or noisily

3

: to go forth, out, or away : leave

4

: to undergo decline or deterioration

5

: to follow the expected or desired course : proceed

the party went off well

6

: to make a characteristic noise : sound

could hear the alarm going off

Phrases

go off the deep end

1

: to enter recklessly on a course

2

: to become very much excited

Synonyms

• blow
• blow up
• burst
• crump
• detonate
• explode
• pop

Examples of go off in a Sentence

specialists were able to deactivate the bomb before it went off

the wedding went off without so much as a single glitch

Recent Examples on the Web

But Luntz put the fault for the loss on Trump for going off on unsubstantiated rumors about people eating pets in Ohio and praising the Prime Minister of Hungary, a far-right leader. —Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY, 12 Sep. 2024

Alarm bells instantly went off within the epidemiology community: Could Pvt. —Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2024

But there wouldn’t be a movie if that went off without a hitch, and as the situation begins to deteriorate, Fargeat amps up the gore and gruesomeness to epic levels. —Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2024

Seventeen years after her first network sitcom went off the air, Reba McEntire returns to the format for Happy’s Place. —Ew Staff, EW.com, 6 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

go off

verb

1

: explode sense 2b

2

: to burst forth or break out suddenly or noisily

3

: to take place : proceed

the dance went off as planned