as in off-the-record
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Recent Examples of off-the-books
Scott got his first paying job at age 11, an off-the-books gig at A Bicycle Odyssey, a bike shop in Sausalito, California, frequented by the likes of Robin Williams, members of the band The Grateful Dead and Huey Lewis.
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Brenda Goodman, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2025
In the 2021 film, Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) stars as Hutch Mansell, a by-the-numbers working stiff who harbors a secret past as an off-the-books government assassin.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2025
Over the years, law enforcement officers have responded to dozens of calls to these casinos for crimes more violent than off-the-books gambling.
—Josh Salman, Miami Herald, 11 July 2025
Charges were dropped Tuesday against the one-time manager of a former off-the-books Gary strip club after the man died, filings show.
—Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 17 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for off-the-books
Recent Examples of Synonyms for off-the-books
Adjective
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Puck promises off-the-record conversations with editors in their top subscription tier, and Lauren Sherman often recaps her off-the-record dinners on her podcast and in her column.—
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In early June, tech entrepreneur Vik Bajaj took over Saison, a two-Michelin-star restaurant in San Francisco, for an off-the-record dinner to talk about AI with journalists and a handful of scientists.—
Adjective
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The show’s original pair of fathers, who secretly orchestrate the clandestine love affair between their children, are now mothers.—
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Saimar Rivas, Armas’s partner and a longtime civil-rights activist, told me that he had been taken to a clandestine site run by the SEBIN, Venezuela’s intelligence agency.—
Adjective
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Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser, was one of three U.S. officials to participate in a closed-door meeting with the Russian delegation on Friday in Alaska.—
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The revelation was made by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) after Barr testified in a closed-door interview during the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of the federal government’s handling of Epstein’s case.—
Adjective
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But Prayer is not your humdrum, surreptitious post–Cowboy Carter cash-out.—
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Jamian Juliano-Villani’s friezelike painting Women, 2024, offers a surreptitious turn on Marcel Duchamp and Eadweard Muybridge by featuring an ostensibly female figure with too many (and ambiguously gendered) appendages.—
Adjective
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Nine years after foiling a lucrative weapons tradeoff and delivering Roper to Syrian captors, Pine has gone undercover again, eventually reuniting with foreign investigator Angela Burr (Colman) as an MI6 operative.—
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Can the Faithfuls work together or will the Traitors go undercover and pick off the Faithfuls one by one?—
Adjective
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While the university has focussed on back-channel diplomacy, Maine’s Democratic government has gone to court.—
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The summit marked the culmination of several months of back-channel diplomacy.—
Adjective
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Danish media reported that at least three people with connections to Trump carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.—
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Federal statute mandates the president inform a bipartisan group of eight, high-ranking members of Congress prior to particularly covert operations.—
Adjective
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The couple was awarded citizenship in a private ceremony in the capital of Conakry on Friday.—
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Special interests often donate tens of thousands of dollars to lawmakers and gain access to private fundraisers at high-end resorts and other exclusive events.—
Cite this Entry
“Off-the-books.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/off-the-books. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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