offing means the area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground. It carries an Arena rating of 1506, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, offing ranks #203 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #680 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #2,793 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,921 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
offing is pronounced /ˈɒfɪŋ/.
Why “offing” is a great word
The stretch of sea visible from shore but beyond safe anchorage, or, figuratively, the foreseeable near future. From 'off' (adverb/preposition indicating distance) + the noun-forming suffix '-ing', attested before 1600. Unlike "horizon"—that sharp, theoretical line dividing sky from earth—or "imminence," a bare abstraction of impending occurrence, "offing" occupies a middle distance of watchful tension. It is a smudge of smoke on the sea's rim, a ship's silhouette slowly hardening against the haze, or a storm cloud gathering its skirts—the quiet suspense of what has been sighted but has not yet arrived, visible long before it is upon us.
Etymology
From off + -ing. Attested since before 1600. Early texts also spell the term offin and offen.
noun
- The area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground.e.g.“to see (a ship) in the offing”
- The distance that a ship at sea keeps away from land, often because of navigational dangers, fog and other hazards; a position at a distance from shore.
- The foreseeable future. Chiefly in the phrase in the offing.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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