Meaning & use
rain off
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Meaning
phrasephrasal verbBritish
To stop an outdoor event or game from starting or continuing because of rain.
Grammar: Usually passive: the final was rained off, rather than rain rained off the final.
Patterns
- be rained off
- something is rained off
The second day of the cricket test was rained off, so the crowd went home early.
Our village fete got rained off, and the stalls were packed away by noon.
If the rehearsal is rained off, we will meet in the church hall instead.
Word forms
| third person singular | rains off |
|---|---|
| past tense | rained off |
| past participle | rained off |
| -ing form | raining off |
Common combinations
- be rained off
- The match was rained off after only six overs.
- get rained off
- The garden party got rained off again this year.
- a rained-off game
- A rained-off game will be replayed in September.
- rained off for the day
- Building work was rained off for the day.
- rained off completely
- The tournament was rained off completely on Saturday.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rain out
- Rain out is the American equivalent and means the same, while rain off sounds distinctly British.
- call off
- Call off is wider, since it covers any cancellation by choice, whereas rain off names the weather as the cause.
- wash out
- Wash out is stronger and often suggests the whole event or plan was ruined, not merely stopped.
Word family
Commonly confused: rain off or rain out?
rain off vs rain out
Same idea, but it is the American form. Use rain off in British writing and rain out in American writing.
Practice
Which sentence uses rain off naturally?
Choose one answer.
Rain off is normally passive: the event is rained off. The active forms in the other options are not how the phrasal verb is used.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “rain off”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.