different between offhand vs passing

English

Alternative forms

• off-hand

Etymology

From Middle English *ofhande, *ofhende, from Old English ofhende (“absent, lost”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *abahandijaz. Equivalent to off- +? hand. Cognate with Icelandic afhendur. Compare onhand.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /??f?hænd/
• Rhymes: -ænd

Adjective

offhand (comparative more offhand, superlative most offhand)

1. Without planning or thinking ahead.

2. Careless; without sufficient thought or consideration.

3. Curt, abrupt, unfriendly.

Synonyms

• (without planning): impromptu, extemporaneous, off-the-cuff; see also Thesaurus:impromptu

Translations

See also

• off the top of one's head

Adverb

offhand (comparative more offhand, superlative most offhand)

1. Right away, immediately, without thinking about it.
   • Offhand, I'd guess that that's a yellow-bellied sapsucker.
   • 1854, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring:

     We will have no more of this shilly-shallying! Call the Archbishop, and let the Prince and Princess be married offhand!

2. In an offhand (adjective) manner.

Anagrams

• hand off, hand-off, handoff

English

Etymology

From pass +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??s??/

Verb

passing

1. present participle of pass

Descendants

• Japanese: ????? (passhingu)

Adjective

passing (comparative more passing, superlative most passing)

1. That passes away; ephemeral. [from 14th c.]
   • 1814, Lord Byron, Lara, I.15:

     And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours […]

   • 2010, Marianne Kirby, The Guardian, 21 Sep 2010:

     It might be possible to dismiss #dittowatch as just another passing internet fancy. After all, hashtags are ephemeral.

2. (now rare, literary) Pre-eminent, excellent, extreme. [from 14th c.]
   • 1835, Washington Irving, The Crayon Miscellany:

     It was by dint of passing strength, / That he moved the massy stone at length.

   • 1847, Robert Holmes, The Case of Ireland Stated:

     That parliament was destined, in one short hour of convulsive strength, in one short hour of passing glory, to humble the pride and alarm the fears of England.

3. Vague, cursory. [from 18th c.]
   • 2011, Stewart J Lawrence, The Guardian, 14 Jun 2011:

     Ardent pro-lifer Rick Santorum made one passing reference to "authenticity" as a litmus test for a conservative candidate, but if he was obliquely referring to Romney (and he was), you could be excused for missing the dig.

4. Going past.

Translations

Adverb

passing (not comparable)

1. (literary or archaic) Surpassingly, greatly. [from 14th c.]
   • 2010 October 30, Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian:

     I find it passing strange that convicts understand honest folk, but honest folk don't understand convicts.

Usage notes

• This use is sometimes misconstrued as meaning "vaguely" or "slightly" (perhaps by confusion with such phrases as "passing fancy", under Adjective, above), leading to formations such as "more than passing clever" etc.

Translations

Noun

passing (countable and uncountable, plural passings)

1. Death, dying; the end of something. [from 14th c.]
2. The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another. [from 14th c.]
   • 1913, Oliver Onions, The Story of Louie

     And since he did not see Louie by the folding door, Louie knew that in his former passings and repassings he could not have seen her either.

3. (law) The act of approving a bill etc. [from 15th c.]
4. (sports) The act of passing a ball etc. to another player. [from 19th c.]
5. A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.
6. (sociology) The ability of a person to be regarded as a member of an identity group or category different from their own.

   Coordinate term: pass

   • 1963, Erving Goffman, 'Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity' , Ch.2 at p.57, 58 (page numbers per the Pelican Books 1976 reprint)

     When there is a discrepancy between an individual's actual social identity and his virtual one, it is possible for this fact to be known to us before we normals contact him, or to be quite evident when he presents himself before us. He is a discredited person, and it is mainly he I have been dealing with until now.
     [...] However, when his differentness is not immediately apparent, and is not known beforehand, [...] he is a discreditable, not a discredited person [...]. The issue is [...] that of managing information about his failing. To display or not to display; to tell or not to tell; to let on or not to let on; to lie or not to lie; and in each case, to whom, how, when, and where.
     [...] It is this second general issue, the management of undisclosed discrediting information about self, that I am focusing on in these notes - in brief, 'passing'.

Translations

French

Etymology

From English passing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?.si?/

Noun

passing m (uncountable)

1. (juggling) passing

   Le passing, ou comment jongler à plusieurs. (www.multiloisirs.com)

Further reading

• “passing” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).