off base
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.00 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep_phrase
Positioned somewhere between the bases, and hence vulnerable to being caught out.
prep_phrase
Incorrect or inappropriate; not properly executed, envisioned, or understood.
Example Sentences
- "A Virginia lawmaker wants to improve off-base living conditions for enlisted troops with families."
- "The hippo heard us, and, like a baseball player caught off base, tried to get back to the river."
- "Near-synonyms: off-track, off target"
- "But he's off-base in describing the city as having "record crime" until he took office."
- "Near-synonyms: off-track, off target, off-kilter"
- "Verne had been dead for 64 years by the time of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 and was thus spared the embarrassment of knowing . . . that part of the rocket would be named “Columbia,” not his own ludicrously off-base suggestion, “Columbiad.”"
Usage
- American usage