Home UK English off-topic

Meaning of off-topic in English:

off-topic

adjective

  • (of a comment) not relevant to the subject under discussion.

    ‘his second comment is entirely off-topic’
    • ‘Reviews can also be removed for being too crass, off topic or unhelpful.’
    • ‘My apologies to the good people at Warner Independent for going completely off topic here.’
    • ‘Hmm, I appear to have gone slightly off topic.’
    • ‘OK, OK, the admirable political opinions of the brother of the lead actor of a show are a teeny bit off topic.’
    • ‘The worst way for a meeting to get off topic is to get too caught up in the competition.’
    • ‘To go even further off topic, the first Alien movie is also a rare glimpse of a future of some reasonable sexual egalitarianism.’
    • ‘Slightly off topic, kudos to all my fellow bloggers who helped expose the guard document forgeries.’
    • ‘Any off topic references or attempts to start a fight will be deleted.’
    • ‘Anyways, sorry to take this thread slightly off topic.’
    • ‘Point out any paragraphs that seem to get off topic or need to be divided.’
    • ‘For an article trying to drive home the point that more critical approaches are necessary, the content is strangely off-topic.’
    • ‘To prevent going off-topic I have moved this discussion here!’
    • ‘Hehe, no worries, I totally like when reviewers go off topic.’
    • ‘Well maybe not about nothing in particular but the subject can go off topic really quickly and I lose my way.’
    • ‘Sorry I slid off topic a bit there.’
    • ‘To assist the site administrators and users who are trying to find technical information, please do not post off-topic in this thread.’
    • ‘And yes, I do realize how off-topic this is.’
    • ‘Would poetic references to the music of the spheres be too off topic?’
    • ‘It may simply amplify the frustration when some well-phrased thought or argument is passed over, or when the conversation does indeed veer off topic.’
    • ‘While slightly off topic for a standard comparison, the following information is necessary to have as a background understanding for the conclusions of this comparison.’

adverb

  • Away from the subject under discussion.

    • ‘you're drifting off-topic’