How to Use off-color in a Sentence

off-color

adjective
  • Slow and steady, and a little off-color?
    — Dianna Douglas, NPR, 28 June 2026
  • The stuff that comes out of Mike’s mouth is very off-color a lot of the time.
    — Lynette Rice, Deadline, 10 Feb. 2025
  • Some of the more off-color clips have captured more than 12 million views.
    — Sean Gregory, Time, 18 Feb. 2026
  • The gifts are usually a little bit off-color, though not always.
    — Jasmine Gomez, Women's Health, 1 Aug. 2023
  • Remember, a hard freeze will still damage them, turning them mushy and off-colored.
    — Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Nov. 2025
  • Sure, high, off-color rivers can be confusing and hard to read, but fish are still biting in these conditions.
    — Tim Romano, Field & Stream, 17 Apr. 2024
  • In Las Vegas casinos, expect adult humor and off-color jokes.
    — Emily Latimer, Longreads, 25 Jan. 2024
  • Gunn’s work at Marvel was known for its blaring needle drops and an off-color snark that lined up with the franchise’s self-aware comedic stylings.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 8 July 2025
  • Your containers also need drainage holes in the bottom or water can back up in the pots and cause your plants to stop growing with off-color foliage.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 22 July 2023
  • Yellowing can happen with some topcoats when they’re cured, giving nails an unwanted, slightly off-color tint.
    — Morgan Fargo, Vogue, 10 Sep. 2025
  • The show quickly rose in the ratings — often rivaling Winfrey — thanks to its off-color brand of content and on-screen fights.
    — Kate Hogan, Peoplemag, 27 Apr. 2023
  • Huffman liked to do impersonations and had a profane streak; he was once forced to apologize for making an off-color joke at an office party.
    — Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, 13 Jan. 2025
  • Those off-color cover versions make for one of the more outrageous bits in a film that rarely takes its ostensibly offensive routines far enough.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 6 Mar. 2024
  • After bursting out of the middle of a snowman, Dusty steps down into the audience to do a little of her famous off-color crowd work.
    — Merrill Markoe, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2026
  • The behavior, the plaintiffs say, would worsen whenever the CEO issued one of his many off-color tweets.
    — Sarah Green Carmichael, The Mercury News, 18 June 2024
  • Musk previously drew criticism for making an off-color joke about Sweeney's body in December.
    — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Jan. 2026
  • The prize endorsement came from Paul McCartney, whose pitch was to-the-point and surprisingly off-color.
    — Paul Grein, Billboard, 1 Mar. 2024
  • Overwatering can also result in stunted growth and off-color (yellow) foliage in annuals.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 30 Aug. 2025
  • Model Janice Dickinson, who served as a judge for several seasons, has come under fire for her harsh critiques and off-color remarks.
    — Catherine Santino, Peoplemag, 1 May 2024
  • Marvel dropped a full trailer in April that was chock-full of off-color witticisms, meta-references, slo-mo action, and a generous sprinkling of F-bombs.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 19 July 2024
  • Marvel dropped a full trailer in April that was chock-full of off-color witticisms, meta-references, slo-mo action, and a generous sprinkling of F-bombs.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 28 June 2024
  • As trade envoy, Andrew became known for practical jokes and off-color remarks, which British diplomats had to tolerate because of his titles.
    — Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 19 Feb. 2026
  • Jackson made the screening audience gasp multiple times during the Q&A, with off-color remarks about some of Combs’ accusers.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 3 June 2026
  • To wear a device is to pull everyone around you into your data stream, where an off-color joke or a bad moment will be recorded—and eventually used to train future AI systems.
    — Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Part off-color drag act, part Carol Burnett-style sketch comedy, the show has survived on its bountiful comedic wits to become one of the hottest Broadway tickets of the year.
    — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2025
  • However, unfortunately writers' rooms were often off-color places, especially more than 20 years ago.
    — Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2024
  • Her sensibility is grounded in sincerity but relies on bawdy, off-color jokes to deflect from empowerment messaging that might otherwise seem square.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 15 Sep. 2024
  • Inevitably, Uncle Joe makes some off-color political comments, Grandpa falls asleep at the table, and the kids ask impatiently if they can be excused.
    — Kayla Bartsch, National Review, 23 Nov. 2023
  • The problem for Platner is that his marital behavior follows a string of reports about offensive and off-color Reddit posts as well as a tattoo with a Nazi symbol.
    — Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 1 June 2026
  • The Spanish giant was much improved in the second half after looking off-color before halftime, lacking the precision of a team seeking a fourth European title in five years.
    — Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 25 May 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'off-color.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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