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pass off

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phrasal verb
Word Forms
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present tense
I/you/we/theypass off
he/she/itpasses off
present participlepassing off
past tensepassed off
past participlepassed off
  1. 1
    [transitive] pass someone/something off as something to make people believe that a person or thing is something else

    He put on an old blue suit, intending to pass himself off as a businessman.

    The watches are fakes, but they tried to pass them off as genuine Rolexes.

  2. 2
    [intransitive] British if an event passes off in a particular way, it happens in that way

    The protest march passed off without any serious trouble.

  3. 3
    [intransitive/transitive] same as pass1 (sense 8)

    He was directly in front of the goal but passed off to Scholes instead of shooting.

See also main entry: pass

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