Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Well-to-do.
  • adjective In fortunate circumstances.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Alternative spelling of well off.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective in fortunate circumstances financially; moderately rich
  • adjective fortunately situated

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[off, circumstanced, probably from the phrase to come well off, to emerge from in good circumstances.]

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Examples

  • Things escalated from there with the super-rich guy calling the well-off dad an "asshole" for not being more careful in the playground.

    Graham James: Slap Fight In NYC! Graham James 2011

  • Things escalated from there with the super-rich guy calling the well-off dad an "asshole" for not being more careful in the playground.

    Graham James: Slap Fight In NYC! Graham James 2011

  • Among the chief suspects are technological changes that increased the value of higher education; globalization that exposed the working class to low-wage competition from abroad; changes in public policy that gave tax breaks to the well-off, undermined minimum wage laws, and discouraged unions; and the fading of social norms that had in the aftermath of the Great Depression and World War II restrained upper-class avarice.

    American Grace Robert D. Putnam 2010

  • The Ryan plan would bar insurers from denying coverage to seniors based on preexisting conditions and would give less well-off seniors higher-value vouchers than more affluent seniors.

    Jonathan Weiler: Republicans, Medicare and the Golden Rule Jonathan Weiler 2011

  • We were not well-off, but what an idyllic childhood my two sisters and I had before the realities of others' lives dawned.

    Family life 2011

  • Instead this relative handful of well-off people has delivered a political opportunity for Labour politicians brave enough to take it.

    Time to Drop the 50% Tax Rate Kitty Ussher 2011

  • This choice of "not-aging" is actually reserved for well-off women with lots of time and money.

    Paulina Porizkova: Aging Paulina Porizkova 2010

  • The Ryan plan would bar insurers from denying coverage to seniors based on preexisting conditions and would give less well-off seniors higher-value vouchers than more affluent seniors.

    Jonathan Weiler: Republicans, Medicare and the Golden Rule Jonathan Weiler 2011

  • The Ryan plan would bar insurers from denying coverage to seniors based on preexisting conditions and would give less well-off seniors higher-value vouchers than more affluent seniors.

    Jonathan Weiler: Republicans, Medicare and the Golden Rule Jonathan Weiler 2011

  • The Ryan plan would bar insurers from denying coverage to seniors based on preexisting conditions and would give less well-off seniors higher-value vouchers than more affluent seniors.

    Jonathan Weiler: Republicans, Medicare and the Golden Rule Jonathan Weiler 2011

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