Meaning & use
go off script
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Meanings
phraseidiominformal
To say or do something other than what was planned or written for you, especially when speaking in public or performing.
Grammar: No object: the actor went off script.
Patterns
- go off script during something
- go off script and do something
The president went off script and joked about the weather.
Call-center staff are told not to go off script when handling complaints.
The young actor went off script in the final scene, and the audience loved it.
phraseidiominformalfigurative
To act spontaneously or unpredictably, ignoring the usual plan, rules or expected way of doing something.
Grammar: Used about any situation, not only performances: the meeting went off script.
Patterns
- let something go off script
The interview went off script when the guest started telling a personal story.
Sometimes the best parties go off script and nobody minds.
Word forms
| third person singular | goes off script |
|---|---|
| past tense | went off script |
| past participle | gone off script |
| -ing form | going off script |
Common combinations
- suddenly go off script
- The speaker suddenly went off script and shared a story.
- tend to go off script
- He tends to go off script when he gets excited.
- warned not to go off script
- The intern was warned not to go off script in the live broadcast.
- go off script during a speech
- She went off script during her speech and thanked her old teacher.
- allowed to go off script
- The comedians were allowed to go off script during rehearsals.
Synonyms and how they differ
- improvise
- Improvise stresses making things up on the spot and is usually positive, while go off script simply means leaving the plan.
- ad-lib
- Ad-lib refers to unplanned spoken lines in a performance, and it is a bit more technical than go off script.
- deviate
- Deviate is more formal and can describe any departure from a plan, not just words.
- stray
- Stray suggests drifting away from a topic or path, often unintentionally, whereas go off script can be deliberate.
Opposites
Word family
- script noun
- the written text of a speech, play or film
- script verb
- to write the words for something
- scripted adjective
- planned in advance
- unscripted adjective
- not planned in advance
- off-script adjective
- not following the planned words
Commonly confused: go off script or go off the rails?
go off script vs go off the rails
Go off the rails means to behave in a wildly uncontrolled or harmful way, which is much stronger than simply leaving a script.
Practice
The politician was supposed to read a prepared statement, but he ___ and started answering reporters' questions.
Choose one answer.
Went off script means abandoning the prepared words. Stayed on message is the opposite, and the other options do not fit this idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “go off script”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.