off the record
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off the record
Not recorded for official publication; informally; in confidence. (Hyphenated if used before a noun.) Our official position is that he decided to change careers, but off the record, he was fired for making inappropriate comments to his staff. The president is suing the newspaper for publishing several of her off-the-record comments.
off the record
Fig. unofficial; informal. (Of comments to the press that one does not want reported.) This is off the record, but I disagree with the mayor on this matter. Although her comments were off the record, the newspaper published them anyway.
off the record
Unofficially, in confidence, not for publication, as in What he was about to say, he told the reporters, was strictly off the record. Probably alluding to striking evidence from a court record (because it is irrelevant or improper), this term came into wide use in the mid-1900s, especially with reference to persons who did not wish to be quoted by journalists. For antonyms, see go on record; just for the record.
off the record
COMMON If you say that your remarks are off the record, you mean that you do not want anyone to report what you said. What I'm about to tell you is off the record. The Army is now empowered to operate on a shoot-to-kill basis. That's off the record, but the facts will shortly start to speak for themselves. Note: You can also say that you speak or talk off the record. He apparently believed he was speaking off the record when he expressed this view at a conference in Tuscany. Note: An off-the-record remark is one that you do not want anyone to report. Downing Street was furious last night at further revelations of the Prime Minister's `off-the-record' remarks to journalists.
off the record
not made as an official or attributable statement. 1990 Charles Allen The Savage Wars of Peace I went to see him very much as somebody going in just to have a chat with him off the record after the interrogation.
ˌoff the ˈrecord
if you tell somebody something off the record, it is not yet official and you do not want them to repeat it publicly: If you speak to me off the record, I won’t quote you by name. ♢ It was an off-the-record remark and you shouldn’t have attached my name to it.off the record
Not for publication: The senator told the reporters that his remarks were strictly off the record.