to write off
27
4.8
- phrasal verb
- /ˈraɪt ɔf/
- Specialized
:
dar de baja
- The accountant decided to write off the uncollectible debts after several attempts to recover them.
- wrote off the debt
- wrote off the obligation
- banks have written off
So if I spend money on a belt, I can't write it off, I can only wear it.
- So if I spend money on a belt, I can't write it off, I can only wear it.
- OK, so they they just write that off, OK, They're that's just part of the business model.
- And so those are things that you can actually write off.
- So you're making passive income, cash flow and you're writing off against the cash flow, a depreciation on your property.
- Unfortunately, you cannot pay yourself and write it off if you're self prior, if you're self-employed.
Examples
-
However, you get to write off your interest expenses up to certain limitations in most cases.
-
Recent figures report that top U.S. and European financial companies wrote off over one trillion dollars.
Academic text (2011) -
Can I still write off the property tax?
-
Under the new Trump tax laws can I still write off the property tax?
-
You want me to just write off that debt?
-
In the past, they took the risks and wrote off the losses.
Academic text (2007) -
Most of the time, this mileage can be written off on your taxes.
Blog text (18) -
The chart below shows that banks have written off $218 billion of credit card debt since 2008.
Blog text (10) -
Nearly $8 million was loaned to band members and then written off as uncollectable.
Fiction book (2002) -
Russia also intends to write off nearly US$20 billion in debt from African countries and has announced new aid packages.
Academic text (2009)
Antonyms
How Reduced
- Specialized
27
4.8
- Specialized
9
5.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
write + off
The sense 'to regard as a loss or not worth further consideration' is related to the literal senses of 'write' and the particle 'off' but relies on a phrasal-verb idiomatic extension (originally accounting: to remove from accounts). The connection is partially transparent — a learner might guess a removal/ending sense from 'off' but would not reliably infer the specific evaluative/financial meaning without prior exposure, so it is semi-transparent.
Etymology
Write off comes from old bookkeeping, when people would literally write a bad debt off the books by crossing it out and removing it from the total. So it means 'to cancel a debt' or 'reduce the value of something in the records'.