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Glite Dictionary
🛑 To stop 💀 To kill ⚡ To do quickly 💸 To reduce price 🚗 To steal
to knock off

to knock off

29 9.9
Kill someone as part of a crime
  • phrasal verb
  • /nɑk ɔf/
  • NSFW
: matar
  • You know, you can't just knock off one of Andrei's guys like that, or he makes a call and I go away forever.
  • people get knocked off
  • try to knock off
  • want to knock you off

Examples

  • They're trying to knock me off!

    Big Brown Eyes (1936)

  • So we're gonna knock 'em both off?

    Fiction book (1991)

  • -Do we really have to knock him off?

    The Three Stooges (2012)

  • You think the French want to knock off the president?

    In the Line of Fire (1993)

  • We thought coming in here we definitely had a shot to knock these guys off.

    Blog text (7)

  • Everybody wants to knock off the guy at the top.

    Blog text (23)

  • Suppose I knew a guy that knocked somebody off... ...you think I ought to turn him in?

    On the Waterfront (1954)

  • I mean look, somebody in the business gets knocked off, who cares, nobody cares.

    Perfect Strangers (1984)

  • I think Dullahan will knock off Hansen and Howe.

    Blog text (23)

  • If the gang wants to protect their territory, they might need to knock off their rivals.

Synonyms

to off
vsto knock off
  • Offensive
215 9.9

To kill someone on purpose

is informal slang that also covers killings to remove a threat
to neutralize
vsto knock off
  • Jargon
74 6.4

To make a military threat unable to act, often by using force

specifically names informal criminal killing rather than broader neutral actions
to cut down
vsto knock off
  • NSFW
41 3.6

To make a person or thing fall to the ground, often by force

is about informal criminal killing or threat removal rather than falling
to pick off
vsto knock off
  • Offensive
36 8.0

Shoot and kill opponents one by one from a hidden place

covers killing more generally, not only single targeted shootings
to waste
vsto knock off
  • Offensive
28 9.3

To kill someone in a violent or criminal way

is informal slang that specifically highlights criminal threat removal
to liquidate
vsto knock off
  • Offensive
12 9.3

To kill someone who is a threat

is informal slang rather than the more neutral or formal tone here
to bump off
vsto knock off
  • Offensive
11 9.3

To kill someone on purpose, usually secretly and as part of a crime

is used more broadly to include removing a threat, not only secret killings
to do in
vsto knock off
  • Offensive
11 8.3

To kill or seriously hurt someone to remove a threat

focuses more on criminal threat removal rather than general harm
to polish off
vsto knock off
  • Offensive
2 9.5

To kill someone on purpose

is similar but stresses criminal activity or threat removal over tone

Antonyms

to protect
∞ 1.0

To keep someone or something safe from harm

to spare
100 3.5

Decide not to hurt someone even though you could

How Deadly

to knock off
  • NSFW
29 9.9
to wound
12 2.3
to injure
10 1.6
to harm
500 1.0

Surface Forms

knock off infinitive
knocked off past
knocked off past participle
knocking off present participle
knocks off third person singular

Morphology

knock + off

The particle 'off' can signal cessation or removal, which gives a cue toward 'stop', but the verb 'knock' (to hit) does not independently convey stopping; the imperative use ('knock it off') is conversational and idiomatic. Because the meaning relies on a conventionalized phrasal-verb use rather than straightforward compositional semantics, a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would likely need prior exposure to fully understand it.

Etymology

Knock off as 'to kill' may come from the violent image of knocking someone off their feet, a hit that puts them down for good. That's why criminals use it to mean 'to kill'.