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Without vs Off - What's the difference?

without | off |

As adverbs the difference between without and off

is that without is outside, externally while off is in a direction away from the speaker or object.

As prepositions the difference between without and off

is that without is outside of, beyond while off is Used to indicate movement away from a position on

As a conjunction without

is unless, except (introducing a clause).

As an adjective off is

inoperative, disabled.

As a verb off is

to kill.

without

English

Alternative forms

* withoute (archaic); wythoute, wythowt (obsolete), wythowte (obsolete)

Adverb

(en adverb)
  • (archaic, or, literary) outside, externally
  • * c.1600s , (William Shakespeare), (Macbeth)
    • Macbeth: There's blood upon your face
    Murderer: 'tis Banquo's then
    Macbeth: 'tis better thee without then he within.
  • * 1900 , (Ernest Dowson), Benedictio Domini , lines 13-14
    • Strange silence here: without , the sounding street
    Heralds the world's swift passage to the fire
  • * 1904 , (Arthur Conan Doyle), (The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez) (Norton 2005, p.1100)
    • I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without .
  • Lacking something.
    • Being from a large, poor family, he learned to live without .

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Outside of, beyond.
  • :
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:Without the gate / Some drive the cars, and some the coursers rein.
  • *(Thomas Burnet) (1635?-1715)
  • *:Eternity, before the world and after, is without our reach.
  • *1967 , (George Harrison),
  • *:Life goes on within you and without you.
  • Not having, containing, characteristic of, etc.
  • :
  • *, chapter=22
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.}}
  • *1967 , (George Harrison),
  • *:Life goes on within you and without you.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema.}}
  • Not doing or not having done something.
  • :
  • :
  • *
  • *:Athelstan Arundel walked home […], foaming and raging.He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.

    • Derived terms

    * withoutness

    Synonyms

    * lacking, outwith, with no, -less, , sans

    Antonyms

    * (outside) within * (not having) with, having, characteristic of, endowed with

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • Unless, except (introducing a clause).
  • *:
  • *:And whanne this old man had sayd thus he came to one of tho knyghtes and sayd I haue lost alle that I haue sette in the / For thou hast rulyd the ageynste me as a warryour and vsed wrong werres with vayne glory more for the pleasyr of the world than to please me / therfor thow shalt be confounded withoute thow yelde me my tresour
  • *1913 , DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers , Penguin, 2006, p.264:
  • *:‘Why,’ he blurted, ‘because they say I've no right to come up like this—without we mean to marry—’
  • *1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)
  • *:But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

    • Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English locatives 200 English basic words 1000 English basic words

    off

    English

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In a direction away from the speaker or object.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or
  • Into a state of non-operation; into a state of non-existence.

    • Usage notes

    * Used in many , off'' is an adverbial particle often mistakenly thought of as a preposition. (It ''can be used as a preposition, but such usage is rare and usually informal; see below.)

    Synonyms

    * away, out

    Antonyms

    * on, in

    Derived terms

    * back off * bite off * break off * bring off * call off * clean off * cut off, cutoff * die off * drop off * fall off * fuck off * get off * go off * goof off * hold off * keep off * kick off, kickoff * knock off * lay off, layoff * leave off * let off * light off * live off * make off * make off with * nod off * pay off, payoff * piss off * pull off * put off * ring off * rip off, ripoff * round off * run off, runoff * see off * set off * show off, showoff * sleep off * shake off * switch off * take off * tell off * tick off * turn off, turnoff * walk it off * wear off

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Inoperative, disabled.
  • :All the lights are off .
  • Rancid, rotten.
  • :This milk is off !
  • (cricket) In, or towards the half of the field away from the batsman's legs; the right side for a right-handed batsman.
  • Less than normal, in temperament or in result.
  • :sales are off this quarter
  • Circumstanced (as in well off'', ''better off'', ''poorly off ).
  • *
  • Started on the way.
  • :off to see the wizard
  • :And they're off ! Whatsmyname takes an early lead, with Remember The Mane behind by a nose.
  • *
  • Far; off to the side.
  • :the off horse or ox in a team, in distinction from the nigh or near horse
  • *
  • *:So this was my future home, I thought!Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
  • *1937 , (Zora Neale Hurston), Their Eyes Were Watching God , Harper Perennial (2000), p.151:
  • *:He came in, took a look and squinched down into a chair in an off corner and didn’t open his mouth.
  • Designating a time when one is not strictly attentive to business or affairs, or is absent from a post, and, hence, a time when affairs are not urgent.
  • :He took an off''' day for fishing.  an '''off''' year in politics; the '''off season

    • Antonyms

    * (inoperative) on * (rotten) fresh * (cricket) on, leg

    Derived terms

    * off to the races

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • (Used to indicate movement away from a position on)
    • I took it off''' the table.''; ''Come '''off the roof!
  • (colloquial) Out of the possession of.
    • He didn't buy it off''' him. He stole it '''off him.
  • Away from or not on.
    • He's off''' the computer, but he's still on the phone.''; ''Keep '''off the grass.
  • Disconnected or subtracted from.
    • We've been off''' the grid for three days now.''; ''He took 20% '''off the list price.
  • Distant from.
    • We're just off''' the main road.''; ''The island is 23 miles ' off the cape.
  • No longer wanting or taking.
    • He's been off''' his feed since Tuesday.''; ''He's '''off his meds again.
    • Tantalum bar 6 off 3/8" Dia × 12" — Atom, Great Britain Atomic Energy Authority, 1972
    samples submitted … 12 off Thermistors type 1K3A531 … — BSI test report for shock and vibration testing, 2000
    I'd like to re-order those printer cartridges, let's say 5-off .

    Antonyms

    *

    Derived terms

    * off-campus * off one's feed

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (slang) To kill.
    • He got in the way so I had him offed .
  • (Singapore) To switch off.
    • Can you off the light?

    Derived terms

    * off-licence, off-license, offie, offy

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words 200 English basic words English contranyms English locatives English prepositions English three-letter words