off the grid

alternative off-the-grid

1. Of a home, business, or the occupants thereof, not using electricity from the public electrical supply system.

   [T]his 1,250-square-foot earth-covered house relies on solar power and is off the grid.

   2005 March 18, Bethany Lyttle, “Energy-Efficient Houses: Lowering the Long-Term Cost”, in New York Times, retrieved 06 Dec 2011

2. Not reachable by means of a publicly available communication system, such as the Internet or a mobile telephone network.

   He has no desire to be found. His place was off the grid. The cabin had no television, phone, or computer.

   2009, J. Gale Morrison, We Were the Zonks!, →ISBN, page 263

   1 more example

   The Nobel committee has been unable to reach a winner of this year’s prize for medicine who is “living his best life” on an “off the grid” hiking foray. […] But the laureate’s digital detox means the Nobel committee has been unable to reach him and break the news.

   2025 October 6, “Nobel committee unable to reach prize winner who is ‘living his best life’ hiking off grid”, in The Guardian, sourced from Agence France-Presse, →ISSN

3. idiomaticIsolated; in a remote location; in seclusion; not participating in some official process or system.

   They were off the grid—no IDs, no homes, no names, nothing.

   2011, James Knapp, Element Zero, Penguin, →ISBN

   1 more example

   The beach looked like a small swatch of an industrial wasteland. […] He had promised me a crowd-free break that was off the grid, and here it was.

   2008 May 4, Julia Chaplin, “Riding the Waves of Peru”, in New York Times, retrieved 06 Dec 2011

   Synonyms: off-grid, incommunicado

alternative off-the-grid

1. In or into a situation or place in which electricity from the public electricity system is not used.

   Those city properties did not go completely off the grid, but they sharply reduced the amount of power they drew from it, he said.

   2011 July 22, Patrick McGeehan, “Energy Use Soars in City Under Grip of Scorcher”, in New York Times, retrieved 06 Dec 2011

   1 more example

   Imagine a future in which millions of families live off the grid, powering their homes and vehicles with dirt-cheap portable fuel cells.

   2010 March 11, Reihan Salam, “The Dropout Economy”, in Time

2. idiomaticIn or into a clandestine or isolated situation or place, especially one in which public communication is curtailed.

   If you're annoying folks, you'll essentially cease to exist, as those you annoy drop you off the grid.

   2007 August 23, Lev Grossman, “Nerd World: Why Facebook Is the Future”, in Time

   1 more example

   [T]he government of a country with 80 million people and a modernizing economy cut off nearly all access to the network and shut down cellphone service. . . . Egypt, to an unprecedented extent, pulled itself off the grid.

   2011 January 28, Matt Richtel, “Egypt Cuts Off Most Internet and Cell Service”, in New York Times, retrieved 06 Dec 2011

3. idiomaticSecretly; in a clandestine manner.

   “You have to have an awful lot of energy and passion to make films with no funding and no prospect of having them seen in public in your home country except under the radar and off the grid,” said Sally Berger, the curator of the festival, who visited China last fall.

   2011 February 17, Larry Rohter, “Indie Films From a Land Short on Independence”, in New York Times, retrieved 06 Dec 2011