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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
to offset

to offset

9 4.5
To place something so it is not in line with another part
  • verb
  • /ˈɔfˌsɛt/
translation icon : desplazar
  • So I'm going to use these different offset pieces to get the drawer front in the right position from the outside edge.

Examples

  • Around Santarm, the annual river-flood cycle is offset from the rain cycle by at least several weeks.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Line it up, offset it a tiny bit, hit it again.

  • When it's moving away from you, it's offset even more and you can hear that.

  • Write code to offset the bit to maintain the precise size of the finished part.

    Academic text (2011)

  • I'm going to do a plot with the three components offset from each other.

  • So what will happen is I think they're slightly offset from each other.

  • The interior curtain wall blocked our path straight ahead, and the second gate was offset about thirty yards to the right.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The drillers must submit payments to the state to offset any negative impacts of fracking.

    Blog text (26)

  • Anyway, I used a couple of scrap blocks to offset the piece from my face plate on the lathe and use just a few screws to hold it down.

  • The architect designed the windows to offset the symmetry of the building.

Synonyms

to misalign
vsto offset
4 6.7

To put parts in the wrong position so they do not line up

puts items deliberately apart without implying an error

Antonyms

to align
89 3.5

To put things in a straight line or in the correct position

to center
  • US
71 1.0

To place something in the middle so it is the same distance from all sides

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

How Aligned

to align
89 3.5
to adjust
317 2.7
to offset
9 4.5
to displace
140 5.5
to misalign
4 6.7

Surface Forms

offset infinitive
offset past
offset past participle
offsetting present participle
offsets third person singular

Morphology

offset = set (transparent) = off + set

The verb is a straightforward formation from the productive prefix 'off-' (meaning away/apart) + 'set', so learners who know 'off' and 'set' can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Offset comes from the idea of set + off, meaning 'to move to the side' or 'to place apart'. So to offset something is to move it slightly out of line or away from another part.