to round off
5
3.6
- phrasal verb
- /raʊnd ɔf/
- In this case, the question—"What gives you the greatest pleasure?"—had been designed simply as a relaxing way of rounding off an interview of some hours.
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeAnyway, I put this paint on my, on my lips and that like rounds off the whole thing.
- Anyway, I put this paint on my, on my lips and that like rounds off the whole thing.
Examples
-
Carefully, Robert started to round off their conversation.
Fiction book (1994) -
To round off the meal, we opted for the staples of ice cream and cheesecake.
Blog text (31) -
Originally, his course at the Gregorian was supposed to be a kind of finishing school for those students who needed to round off their Latin education.
Academic text (1994) -
With your adrenaline pumped up, you round off the afternoon with some snowboarding on the local indoor snow mountain (outdoors, the temperature is 105 degrees).
Blog text (31) -
To round off the meal, we opted for the staples of ice cream and cheesecake.
-
Originally, his course at the Gregorian was supposed to be a kind of finishing school for those students who needed to round off their Latin education.
-
In this case, the question—"What gives you the greatest pleasure?"—had been designed simply as a relaxing way of rounding off an interview of some hours.
Synonyms
123
3.9
Make something as good as possible by improving it
77
3.2
To finish something by adding a final detail or touch
73
3.8
Complete the last details to make something ready
68
4.0
Make something better by making a few small changes
56
3.9
Add a final thing to make something feel complete
33
4.1
To make something better by small changes
33
4.0
To complete something by adding the final touches
15
4.8
Bring something to a finished state
14
7.4
To make something complete or perfect
13
3.5
Make something more complete by adding parts
12
3.5
Make something better by practicing or fixing it
6
2.4
To put a final protective or decorative layer on something
1
5.7
To finish something in a very impressive way
Antonyms
How Complete
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'round' (make more rounded) maps metaphorically onto making a number 'round' (without decimals), and the particle 'off' conveys a sense of completion or reduction, so a learner who knows the constituents can plausibly infer a numeric 'making round' action. However, the precise numeric operation (nearest whole number or to a zero) and the conventional use in mathematics is a metaphorical extension and not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Round off also became a phrase for finishing something by adding small final touches; to round something off is to add the last bits that make it smooth and complete. That's why it means 'to complete or perfect'.