offset
verb
- balance out, lessen the impact of
- position off to the side
noun
- integer indicating the distance (displacement) between the beginning of an array or data structure and a given element or point
- act or process of balancing out, lessening impact
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɒf.sɛt/ / /ˈɔf.sɛt/ / /ˈɑf.sɛt/
adj
Etymology: From off- + set, used to construct the noun form of the verb to set off. Compare Middle English ofsetten (“to encumber, harass, beset, besiege”), from Old English ofsettan (“to press, oppress, overwhelm, crush”).
- Away from or off from the set of a movie, film, video, or play.
“By then, the cast had become good friends and spent all their offset time together.”
“This is the principal need for a stand-in. To allow the actor to reset their own performance in a space right offset; which may also include resetting wardrobe and makeup.”
adv
Etymology: From off- + set, used to construct the noun form of the verb to set off. Compare Middle English ofsetten (“to encumber, harass, beset, besiege”), from Old English ofsettan (“to press, oppress, overwhelm, crush”).
- Away from or off from the set of a movie, film, video, or play.
“Offset Riley is romantically involved with Alexandra Maria Lara, who plays lan Curtis's lover Annik Honoré in Control.”
“Anita's pianoises are made offset for her by Norma Boleslawski, wife of late, great director Richard Boleslawski.”
noun
Etymology: From off- + set, used to construct the noun form of the verb to set off. Compare Middle English ofsetten (“to encumber, harass, beset, besiege”), from Old English ofsettan (“to press, oppress, overwhelm, crush”).
- Anything that acts as counterbalance; a compensating equivalent.
“Today's victory was an offset to yesterday's defeat.”
“There were more applicants for situations than vacancies, and nothing better or more congenial to my taste offering, I accepted a place in a Saloon. The salary was $100 per month, which was somewhat of an offset against the peculiarities of the position.”
- A form of countertrade arrangement, in which the seller agrees to purchase within a set time frame products of a certain value from the buying country. This kind of agreement may be used in large international public sector contracts such as arms sales.
- A time at which something begins; outset.
“Later, Timberlake would tell Playboy that he noticed Ryan's talent from the offset, saying, 'I thought he had charisma that was just beaming, which has turned out to serve him really well as an actor.'”
- The offset printing process, in which ink is carried from a metal plate to a rubber blanket and from there to the printing surface.
“offset lithographs”
“offset process”
- The difference between a target memory address and a base address.
“An array of bytes uses its index as the offset, of words a multiple thereof.”
- The displacement between the base level of a measurement and the signal's real base level.
“The raw signal data was subjected to a baseline correction process to subtract the sensor's offset and drift variations.”
- The distance by which one thing is out of alignment with another.
“There is a small offset between the switch and the indicator which some users found confusing.”
- A short distance measured at right angles from a line actually run to some point in an irregular boundary, or to some object.
- An abrupt bend in an object, such as a rod, by which one part is turned aside out of line, but nearly parallel, with the rest; the part thus bent aside.
- A short prostrate shoot that takes root and produces a tuft of leaves, etc.
“[…] [I]nfected tulips are weakened by the viruses that cause the very patterns and swirls that fascinated horticulturists and investors in the first place. Such bulbs tend to dwindle away instead of fattening up and producing offsets.”
- A spur from a range of hills or mountains.
- A horizontal ledge on the face of a wall, formed by a diminution of its thickness, or by the weathering or upper surface of a part built out from it; a set-off.
- A terrace on a hillside.
verb
Etymology: From off- + set, used to construct the noun form of the verb to set off. Compare Middle English ofsetten (“to encumber, harass, beset, besiege”), from Old English ofsettan (“to press, oppress, overwhelm, crush”).
- To counteract or compensate for, by applying a change in the opposite direction.
“I'll offset the time difference locally.”
“to offset one charge against another”
- To place out of line.
- To form an offset in (a wall, rod, pipe, etc.).