off the record

Not recorded for official publication; informally; in confidence. Often hyphenated. 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.

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.

Unofficially, in confidence, not for publication, as in What he was about to say, he told the reporters, was strictly off the record.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.

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.

Not for publication: The senator told the reporters that his remarks were strictly off the record.

In confidence; unofficially. This twentieth-century expression became current in America in mid-century, used with increasing frequency by public officials giving the media information that was not for publication. Ultimately, it probably stems from an older legal term whereby a courtroom judge directs that certain evidence be struck from the court record (because it is irrelevant or improper), and at the same time instructs the jury to disregard it. See also for the record.