Skip to main content
offshore

offshore

141 3.7
At sea away from the land
  • adjective
  • /ˌɔfˈʃɔr/
translation icon : en alta mar
  • Meanwhile, at the tide, 60 mile per hour winds are coming in from offshore.
  • offshore drilling
  • offshore oil
  • inshore and offshore

Yeah, so I worked offshore on oil rigs for three years.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • There's a rally point offshore at Trondheim.

  • Two trollers, large offshore craft, were pulling up on him from the south.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • The Japanese provide jobs in America, but American companies move jobs offshore.

  • You see that big yacht lying offshore?

  • Yeah, so I worked offshore on oil rigs for three years.

  • It's one of the structures that's used in the offshore industry to produce oil.

  • The intake for a public drinking water supply was approximately 200 meters offshore from the creek outlet.

    Academic text (2008)
  • One of the responses is to park barges offshore and pump sand from offshore areas onto the beach.

  • Imagine engineering teams working at offshore or high-altitude wind farms that deliver streams of electricity to global markets.

    Academic text (2011)
  • The surf conditions are perfect for surfing at the offshore reef today.

Synonyms

off the coast
vsoffshore
85 1.9

In the sea near the shore

means being in or moving away from the shore, not only near land
seaward
vsoffshore
1 4.7

The direction toward the sea from land

is broader and can describe being at sea or away from the shore
seawards
vsoffshore
4.2

Toward the sea

includes being located away from the shore rather than only showing movement toward sea
asea
vsoffshore
  • Archaic
9.9

Toward or out on the sea

focuses more on being away from the shore rather than just direction

Antonyms

15 3.5

Located on land near the sea or moving from the sea toward the land

Compounds

offshore rig
  • Specialized
1 5.6

A large structure in the sea for drilling oil or gas from under the sea floor

offshore drilling rig
  • Specialized
6.3

Large platform at sea where workers get oil or gas from under the sea floor

How Far

oceanic
18 4.1
offshore
141 3.7
inshore
1 4.2
coastal
129 2.4
onshore
15 3.5

Surface Forms

offshore positive

Morphology

offshore = shore (transparent) = off + shore

The meaning 'in or towards the sea, away from the shore' follows directly from 'off' + 'shore' and is readily inferable by learners. [Postprocessing: moved 'off' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Offshore comes from the parts off 'away' and shore 'land by the sea', so it literally means 'away from the shore' and is used for places or movement out to sea.