"brush off" meaning in English

See brush off in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-brush off.ogg Forms: brush offs [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} brush off (plural brush offs)
  1. Nonstandard spelling of brush-off. Tags: alt-of, nonstandard Alternative form of: brush-off
    Sense id: en-brush_off-en-noun-SHRcZYRx Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English links with manual fragments, English phrasal verbs formed with "off", Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Czech translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 57 13 16 15 Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 32 22 31 15 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs formed with "off": 54 11 15 20 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 51 15 19 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 65 9 11 16 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 69 7 9 15 Disambiguation of Terms with Czech translations: 55 13 17 15 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 51 17 20 12 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 55 13 17 15 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 58 13 16 13 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 62 12 15 11

Verb

Audio: en-au-brush off.ogg Forms: brushes off [present, singular, third-person], brushing off [participle, present], brushed off [participle, past], brushed off [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} brush off (third-person singular simple present brushes off, present participle brushing off, simple past and past participle brushed off)
  1. (idiomatic) To disregard (something), to dismiss or ignore (someone), as unimportant. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: shrug off Translations (to disregard): zkvaknout (Czech), ignorer (French), regarder de haut (French), abbügeln (German), отмести́ (otmestí) [imperfective] (Russian), отмета́ть (otmetátʹ) [perfective] (Russian), ignorar (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-brush_off-en-verb-std28gTi Categories (other): English links with manual fragments Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 32 22 31 15 Disambiguation of 'to disregard': 93 6 2
  2. (dated) To depart with a sweeping motion; to rush away. Tags: dated
    Sense id: en-brush_off-en-verb-aSC9XfOL Categories (other): English links with manual fragments Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 32 22 31 15
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see brush, off. To remove something with a brush. Derived forms: brush-off [noun], brushoff [noun] Translations (to remove with a brush): смести́ (smestí) [imperfective] (Russian), смета́ть (smetátʹ) [perfective] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-brush_off-en-verb-69srgnYl Categories (other): English links with manual fragments Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 32 22 31 15 Disambiguation of 'to remove with a brush': 2 0 98

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brushes off",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brushing off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brushed off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brushed off",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "brush off (third-person singular simple present brushes off, present participle brushing off, simple past and past participle brushed off)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "32 22 31 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              100,
              114
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Again I begged her to keep an eye on her blood pressure and not get so worked up, and once more she brushed me off, this time with a curt request that I would go and boil my head.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              159,
              168
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2026 February 7, Richard Luscombe, Shrai Popat, Robert Mackey, “Trump refuses to apologize for video with racist imagery of Obamas posted on his social media”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "In a statement sent to the Guardian early on Friday, hours before Trump’s post was taken down, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, attempted to brush off the outrage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To disregard (something), to dismiss or ignore (someone), as unimportant."
      ],
      "id": "en-brush_off-en-verb-std28gTi",
      "links": [
        [
          "disregard",
          "disregard"
        ],
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "ignore",
          "ignore"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To disregard (something), to dismiss or ignore (someone), as unimportant."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "shrug off"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "93 6 2",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "lang_code": "cs",
          "sense": "to disregard",
          "word": "zkvaknout"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 6 2",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "to disregard",
          "word": "ignorer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 6 2",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "to disregard",
          "word": "regarder de haut"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 6 2",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to disregard",
          "word": "abbügeln"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 6 2",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "otmestí",
          "sense": "to disregard",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "отмести́"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 6 2",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "otmetátʹ",
          "sense": "to disregard",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "отмета́ть"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 6 2",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to disregard",
          "word": "ignorar"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "32 22 31 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1765, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare, Dublin: […] W. Whitestone, […], published 1776, →OCLC, page 8:",
          "text": "Thus, ſeizing his hat, he bruſh’d off like the wind, / And the Porter and Eatables follow’d behind.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To depart with a sweeping motion; to rush away."
      ],
      "id": "en-brush_off-en-verb-aSC9XfOL",
      "links": [
        [
          "depart",
          "depart"
        ],
        [
          "rush",
          "rush"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated) To depart with a sweeping motion; to rush away."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "32 22 31 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 100",
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "brush-off"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 100",
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "brushoff"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see brush, off. To remove something with a brush."
      ],
      "id": "en-brush_off-en-verb-69srgnYl",
      "links": [
        [
          "brush",
          "brush#English"
        ],
        [
          "off",
          "off#English"
        ],
        [
          "remove",
          "remove"
        ],
        [
          "brush",
          "brush"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 0 98",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "smestí",
          "sense": "to remove with a brush",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "смести́"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 0 98",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "smetátʹ",
          "sense": "to remove with a brush",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "смета́ть"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-brush off.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/28/En-au-brush_off.ogg/En-au-brush_off.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/En-au-brush_off.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "brush off"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brush offs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "brush off (plural brush offs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "brush-off"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "57 13 16 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "32 22 31 15",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "54 11 15 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"off\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "51 15 19 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "65 9 11 16",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "69 7 9 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 13 17 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Czech translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "51 17 20 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 13 17 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "58 13 16 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 12 15 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Nonstandard spelling of brush-off."
      ],
      "id": "en-brush_off-en-noun-SHRcZYRx",
      "links": [
        [
          "brush-off",
          "brush-off#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "nonstandard"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-brush off.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/28/En-au-brush_off.ogg/En-au-brush_off.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/En-au-brush_off.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "brush off"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"off\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Czech translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "brush-off"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "brushoff"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brushes off",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brushing off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brushed off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brushed off",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "brush off (third-person singular simple present brushes off, present participle brushing off, simple past and past participle brushed off)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              100,
              114
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Again I begged her to keep an eye on her blood pressure and not get so worked up, and once more she brushed me off, this time with a curt request that I would go and boil my head.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              159,
              168
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          ],
          "ref": "2026 February 7, Richard Luscombe, Shrai Popat, Robert Mackey, “Trump refuses to apologize for video with racist imagery of Obamas posted on his social media”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "In a statement sent to the Guardian early on Friday, hours before Trump’s post was taken down, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, attempted to brush off the outrage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To disregard (something), to dismiss or ignore (someone), as unimportant."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "disregard",
          "disregard"
        ],
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "ignore",
          "ignore"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To disregard (something), to dismiss or ignore (someone), as unimportant."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "shrug off"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              26,
              33
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          "ref": "1765, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare, Dublin: […] W. Whitestone, […], published 1776, →OCLC, page 8:",
          "text": "Thus, ſeizing his hat, he bruſh’d off like the wind, / And the Porter and Eatables follow’d behind.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To depart with a sweeping motion; to rush away."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "depart",
          "depart"
        ],
        [
          "rush",
          "rush"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated) To depart with a sweeping motion; to rush away."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see brush, off. To remove something with a brush."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "brush",
          "brush#English"
        ],
        [
          "off",
          "off#English"
        ],
        [
          "remove",
          "remove"
        ],
        [
          "brush",
          "brush"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-brush off.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/28/En-au-brush_off.ogg/En-au-brush_off.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/En-au-brush_off.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "smestí",
      "sense": "to remove with a brush",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "смести́"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "smetátʹ",
      "sense": "to remove with a brush",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "смета́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "lang_code": "cs",
      "sense": "to disregard",
      "word": "zkvaknout"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "to disregard",
      "word": "ignorer"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "to disregard",
      "word": "regarder de haut"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to disregard",
      "word": "abbügeln"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "otmestí",
      "sense": "to disregard",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "отмести́"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "otmetátʹ",
      "sense": "to disregard",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "отмета́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to disregard",
      "word": "ignorar"
    }
  ],
  "word": "brush off"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"off\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Czech translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brush offs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "brush off (plural brush offs)",
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  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "brush-off"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English nonstandard forms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Nonstandard spelling of brush-off."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "brush-off",
          "brush-off#English"
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      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "nonstandard"
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  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-brush off.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/En-au-brush_off.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "brush off"
}

Download raw JSONL data for brush off meaning in English (5.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.