written off

verb

past participle of write off
1
as in dismissed
to express scornfully one's low opinion of most critics have already written off that director as a hack incapable of turning out anything but schlock

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in reduced
to diminish the price or value of that one blunder will write off to nothing all the goodwill we've been building up

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of written off Andrew Shue, Melrose Place Andrew Shue’s Billy Campbell got written off Melrose Place in 1998, early in the show’s final season, and the actor barely looked back. — Jp Mangalindan, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Aug. 2026 On the mound, his 288 victories were written off by some Hall voters (though not this one) because his career spanned 26 seasons. — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 23 Aug. 2026 Dozens of sunken skiffs and speedboats, long written off by their owners, sat dry on the sand. — Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026 The train is, of course, a classic example of the perennial perils of sunk costs; abandoning the line seems absurd (even to us) given how much money would be written off. — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2026 And the larger entertainment industry is taking note of the uptick in audience interest in unscripted, giving more weight to slates that were previously written off. — Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 12 Aug. 2026 Not long ago, the announcement would have been written off as yet another blockchain trial balloon. — Nina Bambysheva, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026 She was written off when her character died from a brain tumor in season 9. — Makena Gera, PEOPLE, 6 Aug. 2026 Miñoso’s character, firefighter Joe Cruz, will likewise be written off in Season 15. — Jack Dunn, Variety, 4 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for written off
  1. dismissed
  2. reduced
  3. run down
  4. written down
  5. played down
  6. sunk
  7. talked down
Verb
  • Gibson Dunn, an external law firm, investigated and dismissed Love’s complaints.
    — Jake Kanter, Deadline, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Advertisement Unfortunately, some of my academic and clinical colleagues have dismissed this approach.
    — David H. Rosmarin, Time, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of dismissed
Verb
  • Obviously, that’s a fair assumption if his ice time is meaningfully reduced, and the same goes for Draisaitl.
    — Janson Duench, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
  • The development comes as the global shipping industry contends with attacks around the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, higher energy prices, and sharply reduced traffic through some of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.
    — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of reduced
Verb
  • Geneva let the clock run down to five seconds to call a timeout before Oswego (2-0) punted.
    — Jerry Birchfield, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2026
  • On the play, Rengifo was injured after taking a relay throw and while trying to cut down Cedric Mullins at the plate in a run down.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of run down
Verb
  • Capricorn December 22 – January 19 A bigger plan becomes more realistic when the next step is written down.
    — Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Our business has no fix for that, so our observations get written down and thrown into a production report.
    — Lexi Carson, HollywoodReporter, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of written down
Verb
  • Miami coach Mario Cristobal played down preseason hype around his team.
    — Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 17 Aug. 2026
  • The industry is one of the key drivers of Indian economic growth and middle-class expansion, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played down job displacement concerns.
    — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of played down
Verb
  • Troubles from the start The groundbreaking attraction, which Six Flags has sunk millions of dollars into, was plagued with problems from the outset.
    — Blake Ellis, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Search aircraft and ships on Tuesday were scouring the area where the cargo ship MV Ocean Winner reportedly sunk Saturday about 276 miles (444 kilometers) from the Paradip coast of India's eastern Odisha state.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of sunk
Verb
  • There is a sense that it is patronised and talked down to a lot of the time.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The influencer, or their manager, already expects to be talked down.
    — Chris Ryan, Forbes.com, 30 July 2026
Definition of talked down

Browse Nearby Words

written down
written off
written up
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Cite this Entry

“Written off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/written%20off. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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