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Glite Dictionary
⚖️ To balance out ⚖️ A counterbalance ↔️ To shift position 🌱 A step or branch 🖨️ A printing method 🖨️ To print 🔄 A side effect
offset

offset

2 8.1
A printing method that moves ink from a plate to a rubber surface and then to paper
  • noun
  • /ˈɔfˌsɛt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : impresión offset
  • Many businesses prefer offset printing for its cost-effectiveness in large volume runs.
  • offset printing
  • offset lithography
  • offset printing plates

Examples

  • Mark, I have been self-publishing by offset printing for 20 years.

    Blog text (22)

  • Offset printing uses a soft planar intermediate medium to improve the transfer quality from the master to the substrate.

    Academic text (2001)

  • And it happened to be the moment when all the print shops were going from letterpress to offset printing.

  • Digital printers work differently from the printing process used in offset printing.

    Blog text (11)

  • Swimming Pools consists of ten photographs in four-color offset printing, spread out over sixty-four white pages.

    Academic text (2005)

  • We're heading to GRAPH EXPO, North America's largest tradeshow for offset, digital, and hybrid technologies, products, and services.

    Blog text (30)

  • A cover PO from 1964 to Farnsworth Press specifies that we would like the covers printed offset rather than letterpress.

    Blog text (22)

  • By the middle of the century, industry insiders began to regard web-fed offset lithography as cheaper, faster, and capable of much larger outputs than letterpress.

    Academic text (2016)

  • Offset lithography paralleled contemporaneous developments in electronic typesetting technologies, thus reinforcing its popularity.

    Academic text (2016)

  • The book was printed using offset techniques to achieve high-quality images.

Synonyms

offset printing
vsoffset
  • Specialized
1 4.9

A printing method that transfers ink from a metal plate to a rubber sheet and then to paper

is identical in meaning but is a shorter name
offset lithography
vsoffset
  • Specialized
6.2

A way of printing where ink moves from a plate to a rubber sheet, then to paper for many copies

refers to the same method without stressing mass-production use

Compounds

offset printing
  • Specialized
1 4.9

A printing method that transfers ink from a metal plate to a rubber sheet and then to paper

right of offset
  • Formal
8.9

The bank's legal power to take money from a customer's account to pay an unpaid loan

offset lithography
  • Specialized
6.2

A way of printing where ink moves from a plate to a rubber sheet, then to paper for many copies

offset press
  • Specialized
6.0

A machine that makes many copies by moving ink from a plate to rubber then to paper

photo-offset
  • Specialized
7.8

A way of printing that uses plates made from photographs to copy pictures and text

photo-offset printing
  • Specialized
6.1

A printing method that uses a metal plate and a rubber sheet to print images on paper

Surface Forms

offset singular
offsets plural

Morphology

offset = set (semi-transparent) = off + set

The printing sense derives from the sense 'to set off' meaning to transfer an image, but the technical meaning 'offset printing' is specialized and not obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Offset comes from the idea of set + off, meaning 'to move' or 'to transfer'. In printing the ink is first 'set off' from a metal plate to a rubber blanket and then to the paper, which is why the method is called offset.