off the record

prep_phrase, adj, adv — 6 senses

off the record

prep_phrasealso spelled off-the-record

1

Not for publication.

RAIL spoke to many people in the course of our investigation - all off-the-record^([sic]), as no one wished to be quoted.2025 July 9, Mel Holley, “How much should a station cost?”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 25:

2

Unofficial.

Related terms: on the record, on record, not for attribution, on background, deep background, off the books

off-the-record

adj

1

Unofficial.

Despite knowing that getting rid of Koeman was going to necessitate putting his hand very deep into what are currently very shallow pockets, Laporta changed tack a couple of weeks ago by summoning journalists for an off-the-record briefing about what was going to happen with the coach.2021 September 22, Guillem Balagué, “Barcelona: The toxic battle ripping apart a European giant”, in BBC Sport:

2

Secret; clandestine.

off-the-record

adv

1

Unofficially.

2

Secretly, in secret, clandestinely.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for off the record and off-the-record.