off base
Related to off base: On a par, bent on, come to terms with
off base
Incorrect; mistaken or misinformed; not aligned with reality. An allusion to baseball, in which baserunners are only "safe" if their foot is touching a "base." Hyphenated if used before a noun. Primarily heard in US. Your arguments would be compelling if your entire premise wasn't completely off base. You need to stop making these off-base assumptions about how the process works.
See also: base, off
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
*off base
1. Lit. [of a runner in baseball] not having a foot touching the base. (*Typically: be ~; get ~.) The runner was off base but the first baseman didn't tag him out.
2. Fig. unrealistic; inexact; wrong. *Typically: be ~; get ~.) I'm afraid you're off base when you state that this problem will take care of itself. You're way off base if you think I was to blame!
See also: base, off
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
off base
Wrong, relying on a mistaken premise, as in His description of the accounting system was totally off base. This metaphoric term originated in baseball, where a runner who steps off a base can be put out. [c. 1940]
See also: base, off
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
off base
mainly AMERICANCOMMON If someone's judgment or opinion is off base, it is mistaken or wrong. Note: In baseball, players have to hit the ball and then run round all four corners or bases to score a run. I don't think the church is off base at all in taking a moral stand on this. For him to blame his mother for this is really off base. Note: In baseball, if a player is caught off base, a member of the opposite team gets them out while they are between bases.
See also: base, off
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
off base
mistaken. North American informal 1947 Time Your Latin American department was off base in its comparison of the Portillo Hotel in Chile with our famous Sun Valley.
See also: base, off
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
off ˈbase
(American English, informal)1 completely wrong about something: You’re way off base with that guess.
2 unprepared: The question caught her off base.
In baseball, a base is one of the four positions that a player must reach in order to score points.
See also: base, off
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
way off (base)
mod. on the wrong track; completely wrong. (see also off base.) Sorry. You are way off. You should just give up.
See also: base, off, way
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
off base
Badly mistaken.
See also: base, off
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
off base
Mistaken, incorrect, wrong. This term dates from the first half of the 1900s and alludes to baseball, where a runner whose foot is not touching a base may be put out. John Steinbeck used it in In Dubious Battle (1936): “If they can catch us off base, they’ll bounce us.”
See also: base, off
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- way off base
- way off
- get (one's) wires crossed
- get one's wires crossed
- get your wires crossed
- have (one's) wires crossed
- have wires crossed
- strike out at (something or some place)
- hit (something) out of the (ball)park
- game is not worth the candle, the