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Glite Dictionary
🤔 To confuse 🧥 To remove quickly
to throw off

to throw off

31 4.8
To make someone's plans or schedule not work as expected
  • phrasal verb
  • /θroʊ ɔf/
translation icon : descolocar
  • The unexpected change in plans really threw off her entire schedule for the week.
  • threw me off balance
  • throw us off track
  • throw off the schedule

I think the thing that will throw one off though, is the colors.

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Examples

  • You were just there to throw them off their game.

    Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

  • I don't want to throw your schedule off.

    The Sure Thing (1985)

  • Now, that might throw some people off, but how often does that happen?

  • We only said that to throw the other kids off track.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • It's the perfect way to throw you off of his trail.

  • Lots of people get really thrown off by this gift giving.

    DoctorRamani

  • The new bus, and the way it was more crowded than expected, threw me off.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The attempt seems to have thrown the entire system off-line.

    Fetch (2009)

  • He just said that to throw the police off his trail.

    Ruthless People (1986)

  • "Already I've confused him, thrown him off, and all he can do is point to the clock."

    Fiction book (2000)

Synonyms

to disrupt
vsto throw off
269 4.4

To interrupt normal activity and cause disorder

causes confusion or disturbance in someone's plans or schedule
to mix up
vsto throw off
  • Informal
65 2.7

To make people confused and things messy

causes confusion or schedule disruption rather than mere unclear order
to derange
vsto throw off
1 7.5

Cause confusion or disorder in plans, work and schedules

targets someone's plans or schedule with confusion and disruption
to overset someone's plans
vsto throw off
7.7

To ruin someone's plans by making them fail or change suddenly

causes confusion or disruption in schedules without necessarily ruining plans

Antonyms

to organize
  • US
662 1.6

Arrange people, things, and activities so they work well

to clarify
248 3.3

To make something clear so others can understand it

How Disruptive

to derail
64 4.6
to disrupt
269 4.4
to throw off
31 4.8
to confuse
266 1.9
to distract
513 2.1

Surface Forms

throw off infinitive
throwing off present participle
throws off third person singular
threw off past
thrown off past participle

Morphology

throw + off

The sense 'to cause confusion or disrupt plans' is a metaphorical extension of 'throw' (propel/move) + 'off' (away/remove), so a learner can partly infer the idea of being moved away from an expected course. However, the idiomatic nuance (disrupting plans or causing confusion rather than literally throwing something off) requires figurative interpretation and may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.

Etymology

The phrasal verb throw off comes from the image of being thrown off a horse or path and losing your balance and focus. That's why it now often means 'to confuse' someone or 'to disrupt' plans.