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Glite Dictionary
🏀 Game start 🕵️ Secret warning
tip-off

tip-off

2 6.6
A secret message that warns people about planned illegal activity
  • noun
  • /ˈtɪpˌɔf/
  • Literature
translation icon : aviso
  • This New York Times photograph appears to have been taken under the FDR Drive, which is on the opposite side of the Financial District from Liberty Plaza, so unless the photographer just happened to be in the right place at the right time, it would seem likely that the paper did get an official tip-off.
  • get a tip-off

And get maybe get a tip off that the cops were coming and get things out of there in time kind of thing.

Examples

  • I have been told that looking to see where Barbie and Ken are made is a good tip-off to where wages are low.

    Blog text (15)

  • Oh, wow, on review, that kind of is a tip-off.

    Blog text (2)

  • And get maybe get a tip off that the cops were coming and get things out of there in time kind of thing.

    Harvard University

  • In my opinion, that should have been your initial tip-off that there was more to the story than was being said.

    Blog text (10)

  • Thanks for the tip-off, Sarge.

    The Rise of the Krays (2015)

  • My tip-off was when it said "Global satirical newspaper..."

    Blog text (15)

  • That, Smack said, should be enough of a tip-off that the beer isn't going to taste like a regular porter.

    Blog text (21)

  • Mr. Mattison, we've had a tip-off, that there's a large stash of illegal drugs here on the wing...

    Bad Girls: The Musical (2009)

  • Police cautially [denies] a vigilante tip-off... or that any of those arrested were injured, in spite of number of ambulances seen at the scene.

    A Hitman in London (2015)

  • The detective received a tip-off about the suspect's location from a reliable informant.

Synonyms

heads-up
vstip-off
  • Informal
60 4.1

A quick warning that something will happen

is a secret warning about illegal or surprising future matters
forewarning
vstip-off
3 5.6

A sign or notice that something bad will happen

is secret and warns of illegal or surprising future matters
insider tip
vstip-off
1 6.4

Private information that gives someone an advantage

is a secret caution about wrongdoing or surprising events instead
warning
vstip-off
1.0

Giving a sign or message that tells people about danger

is a secret information piece about potential illegal or surprising events

Antonyms

silence
181 4.0

Not speaking about something when people ask you

concealment
8 5.0

Keeping something hidden or secret

How Urgent

alarm
842 1.0
alert
297 2.8
tip-off
  • Literature
2 6.6
warning
∞ 1.0
heads-up
  • Informal
60 4.1

Surface Forms

tip-off singular
tip-offs plural

Morphology

tip-off = tip off (semi-transparent) = tip + off

The noun is a conventional conversion of the phrasal verb 'tip off', and the meaning is only partly predictable from the component words.

Etymology

Tip-off also means a secret warning; a helpful way to remember this is to think of tip as 'a short piece of information', so a tip-off is a quick, secret notice that tells someone about something that will happen.