Meanings
alternative off-shore
- not comparableMoving away from the shore.
Michael De Santa (Ned Luke): Oh, it's horrible. You (Devin Weston) wouldn't want to be sent offshore (pun) just to save a little money, would you, T (Trevor Philips)?
2013, Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto V, scene: The Third Way - not comparableLocated in the sea away from the coast.
an offshore oil rig
2 more examples
Since 1949, Taiwan has remained under Nationalist (Kuomintang) control along with the off-shore islands of Chin-men (Kinmen) and Ma-tsu (Lien-chiang County) in Fujian Province. Chin-men and Lien-chiang County are to end their period of direct military rule and to elect their first country magistrates in 1993.
1992, Richard Louis Edmonds, edited by Graham P. Chapman and Kathleen M. Baker, The Changing Geography of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau (The Changing Geography of Asia), Routledge, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 160The judges said that the right to a clean environment did not bar the government from drilling for offshore oil, and that Norway did not legally carry the responsibility for emissions stemming from oil it has exported.
2020 December 22, Henrik Pryser Libell, Derrick Bryson Taylor, “Norway’s Supreme Court Makes Way for More Arctic Drilling”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2020 - not comparableLocated in another country, especially one having beneficial tax laws or labor costs.
American companies use offshore services for one reason, said Herbert F. Schantz, a consultant in Sterling, Va.: cheap labor.
2000 June 15, Lisa Guernsey, “Offshore Scanners”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 03 Feb 20183 more examples
With pressure building in Europe and the United States for a systemwide crackdown on offshore tax havens the Caymans prefer to call themselves a tax-neutral portal Britain appears determined to make an example of a place that has become a symbol of secrecy and intrigue.
2009 October 3, Landon Thomas Jr, “Offshore Haven Considers a Heresy: Taxation”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Sep 2018Moving the prisoners is an indispensable step toward closing an extra-legal offshore lockup that has stained this nation’s reputation and become a recruitment tool for terrorists.
2009 December 18, “Guantánamo Must Be Closed”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Oct 2020It begins with the anodyne name for the procedures — “offshore processing” — as if these desperate human beings were just an accumulation of data.
2016 May 23, Roger Cohen, “Australia’s Offshore Cruelty”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 21 Oct 2018
alternative off-shore
- not comparableAway from the shore.
- not comparableAt some distance from the shore.
present singular third person offshores · participle present offshoring · participle past offshored · past offshored · alternative off-shore
- transitiveTo move industrial production from one region to another or from one country to another, in order to seek lower business costs, such as labor.
India has become the leading destination for offshored services.
2009, Adjiedj Bakas, Beyond the Crisis: The Future of Capitalism, Meghan-Kiffer Press, →ISBN, page 1092 more examples
The McKinsey Global Institute says that 750,000 American service jobs have been “offshored” out of total U.S. jobs of about 140 million.
2005 July 25, Robert J. Samuelson, “The World Is Still Round”, in Newsweek, page 49Corporations offshore their production, because they can more cheaply produce abroad what they sell to Americans. When corporations bring their offshored production to the U.S. to sell, the goods count as imports.
2010, Paul Craig Roberts, How the Economy Was Lost, AK Press, →ISBN, page 8
plural offshores · alternative off-shore
- An area of or portion of sea away from the shore.
This problem, so far as the offshores of the United States is concerned, is one that is eminently worthy of the attention of the United States Fish Commission and the support of Congress in its attempt to solve it.
1884, Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Washington: United States Bureau of Fisheries, page XXVI - Something or someone in, from, or associated with another country.
If costs are unequally imposed by governments on their offshores, the government makes the U.S. banking industry less competitive.
1984, Richard H. Blum, Offshore Haven Banks, Trusts, and Companies, New York: Praeger, →ISBN, page 311 more example
Though American legislators renewed restrictive immigration policies in the two decades after the war, they allowed employers of farmworkers to import some 4.5 million Mexican "braceros" and Caribbean "offshores," as the workers were called.
2001, Cindy Hahamovitch, “In America Life is Given Away”, in Catherine McNicol Stock, Robert D. Johnston, editors, The Countryside in the Age of the Modern State, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 136
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveat some distance from the shore
adverbaway from shore; away from land
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Englishoff-
- Proto-Germanic*skurô
- Proto-West Germanic[Term?]
- Old English*sċora
- Middle Englishschore
- Englishshore
- Englishoffshore
Translations
Bulgarian офшо́рен, близо до брега
- офшо́рен (ofšóren)located in another country
- близо до брега (blizo do brega)at some distance from the shore
Catalan deslocalitzar
- deslocalitzarto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
Chinese Mandarin 離岸 /离岸, 濱外 /滨外
- 離岸 /离岸 (lí'àn)located in another country
- 濱外 /滨外 (bīnwài)located in another country
- 國外 /国外 (guówài)located in another country
Dutch buiten de kust, verplaatsen
- buiten de kustlocated in the sea away from the coast
- verplaatsento use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
- delokaliserento use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
Esperanto alilanda
- alilandalocated in another country
Finnish merelle suuntautuva, ulkomaalainen
- merelle suuntautuvamoving away from the shore
- ulkomaalainenlocated in another country
- merelläaway from the shore
- rannastaat some distance from the shore
- ulkoistaa ulkomailleto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
French offshore, au large
- offshorelocated in the sea away from the coast
- au largelocated in the sea away from the coast
- offshorelocated in another country
- délocaliserto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
German ablandig, offshore
- ablandigmoving away from the shore
- offshorelocated in the sea away from the coast
- Off-Shore-located in another country
Greek αρόδου, εξωχώριος
- αρόδου (aródou)located in the sea away from the coast
- εξωχώριος (exochórios)located in another country
- αρόδου (aródou)away from the shore
- αρόδου (aródou)at some distance from the shore
Hebrew ימי
- ימי (yami)located in the sea away from the coast
Icelandic aflandsríki
- aflandsríkilocated in another country
Indonesian lepas pantai, lepas pantai
- lepas pantailocated in the sea away from the coast
- lepas pantaiaway from the shore
- lepas pantaiat some distance from the shore
Italian al largo, al largo
- al largoaway from the shore
- al largoat some distance from the shore
- delocalizzareto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
Japanese オフショア, 海外での
- オフショア (ofushoa)located in another country
- 海外での (kaigai de no)located in another country
Korean 역외, 해외
- 역외 (yeogoe)located in another country
- 해외 (hae'oe)located in another country
Māori whakawaho
- whakawahomoving away from the shore
Norwegian Bokmål offshore
- offshorelocated in the sea away from the coast
Polish położony z dala od brzegu, przybrzeżny
- położony z dala od brzegumoving away from the shore
- przybrzeżnylocated in the sea away from the coast
- zagranicznylocated in another country
- z dala od brzeguaway from the shore
- przy brzeguat some distance from the shore
- przenosićto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
- przenieśćto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
Portuguese deslocalizar
- deslocalizarto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
Russian офшо́рный, в откры́том мо́ре
- офшо́рный (ofšórnyj)located in another country
- в откры́том мо́ре (v otkrýtom móre)away from the shore
Spanish alejándose de la costa, mar adentro
- alejándose de la costamoving away from the shore
- mar adentrolocated in the sea away from the coast
- en ultramarlocated in the sea away from the coast
- en altamarlocated in the sea away from the coast
- costa afueralocated in the sea away from the coast
- deslocalizadolocated in another country
- extraterritoriallocated in another country
- en el extranjerolocated in another country
- fuera de paíslocated in another country
- offshorelocated in another country
- alejado de la costaaway from the shore
- lejos de la costaat some distance from the shore
- deslocalizarto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
- extraterritorializarto use foreign labor to substitute for local labor
Swedish till havs, offshore
- till havslocated in the sea away from the coast
- offshorelocated in the sea away from the coast
- utländsklocated in another country
- offshorelocated in another country
Ukrainian офшо́рний
- офшо́рний (ofšórnyj)located in another country
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with offshore
Cite this entry
offshore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offshore
“offshore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offshore. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “offshore,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offshore.
Source: offshore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.