WRITE SOMETHING OFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

Meaning of write something off in English

write something off

phrasal verb with write verb
uk
/raɪt/ us
/raɪt/
wrote | written or old use writ

(MONEY)

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to accept that an amount of money has been lost or that a debt will not be paid:
The World Bank is being urged to write off debts from developing countries.
to be able to use the cost of something you have bought to reduce the amount of tax you owe:
You might be able to write off the car as a business expense.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Borrowing & lending
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(VEHICLE)

UK
to damage a vehicle so badly that it cannot be repaired:
His car was completely written off in the accident.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
On the road: accidents involving vehicles
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write someone/something off

phrasal verb with write verb
uk
/raɪt/ us
/raɪt/
wrote | written or old use writ
C2
to decide that a particular person or thing will not be useful, important, or successful:
A lot of companies seem to write people off if they're over 50.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Treating as unimportant
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write-off
noun [ C usually singular ]
uk
/ˈraɪ.tɒf/ us
/ˈraɪ.t̬ɑːf/

write-off noun [C usually singular] (WASTED TIME)

a period of time during which you fail to achieve anything:
Yesterday was a complete write-off as far as work is concerned.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Delaying and wasting time
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write-off noun [C usually singular] (VEHICLE)

UK
a vehicle that is too damaged to be worth repairing:
She wasn't hurt, but the car's a complete write-off.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
On the road: accidents involving vehicles
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(Definition of write something off from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

write off something | American Dictionary

write off something

phrasal verb with write verb [ I/T ]
us
/rɑɪt/
past tense wrote us/roʊt/ | past participle written us/ˈrɪt·ən/

(LOSE MONEY)

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to accept that a debt will not be paid or that money has been lost:
Last year the bank wrote off $17 million in bad debts.

write off someone/something

phrasal verb with write verb [ I/T ]
us
/rɑɪt/
past tense wrote us/roʊt/ | past participle written us/ˈrɪt·ən/

(CONSIDER UNIMPORTANT)

to decide that someone or something is not suitable or good enough to be successful:
When he lost the election for governor, some observers wrote him off as a future candidate, but they were proven wrong.
write-off
noun [ C ]
us
/ˈrɑɪtˌɔf/
a change in a company's accounts when it has lost money:
After write-offs, taxes, and government transfers were deducted, the phone company found itself deeply in debt.
(Definition of write something off from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

write sth off | Business English

write sth off

phrasal verb with write verb
uk
/raɪt/ us
wrote | written
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ACCOUNTING, FINANCE
to accept that an amount of money has been lost, for example, from a bad investment or a debt that will never be paid, and show it as a loss in a company's accounts:
Banks accept that some of their bad debts will eventually have to be written off.
INSURANCE   UK
to damage a vehicle so badly that it cannot be repaired, or it would cost too much to repair:
The car was completely written off.
See also
write-off

write sb/sth off

phrasal verb with write verb
uk
/raɪt/ us
wrote | written
to decide that a particular person or thing is no longer useful, important, or successful:
The company was written off by its competitors.
write-off
noun [ C ]
uk
/ˈraɪtɒf/ us
FINANCE, ACCOUNTING
an amount of money that has been lost, for example, from a bad investment or a debt that will never be paid, shown as a loss in a company's accounts:
asset/bad-debt/goodwill write-offs The credit card company projected that bad-debt write-offs would be $4.9 billion.
charitable/tax write-offs
Compare
charge-off
INSURANCE   UK
a vehicle that is too damaged to repair:
Her car is a complete write-off.
(Definition of write something off from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of write something off

write something off
Leaseholders often explicitly employed the threat of not renewing the contract in order to secure a rent write-off.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These farms can write-off farm losses especially if they are offset by high off-farm income.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Then one of his men brought news that the new car had gone off the road into a ravine and was a write-off.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
After their courses, they will be protected by the provisions for deferment of repayments and write-off of the debt if their income is low.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
What is the rate of obsolescence, the rate of write-off?
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
They are unpopular even before the spectacle of a flotation fiasco doomed to partial or total failure despite the hidden write-off of £5·5 billion debt.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Debt write-off, project aid and technological assistance have to be geared tightly towards movement to a market economy.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The new owners were given a debt write-off worth £5 billion and a green dowry worth £1.5 billion.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
In exchange, they got a green dowry of £1.5 billion and a debt write-off totalling £5 billion.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Speed is important, but so is the extent of debt write-off.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
We are not opposed to any write-off of debt.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The same can be said of the financial implications for the taxpayer and the write-off of debt.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Commercial information concerning total investment and write-off is not held centrally.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The powers of commanding officers of write-off were ridiculously small in comparison with the value of the equipment they held on charge.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Coal is following the three classic stages of privatisation—write-off, sell-off and rip-off.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
See all examples of write something off
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of write-off?
 
C2

Translations of write something off

in Chinese (Traditional)
金錢, 勾銷（債務）, 避免交…的稅…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
金錢, 勾销（债务）, 避免交…的税…
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in Spanish
deducir, siniestro total, dar por perdido/ida [masculine-feminine]…
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write out something
write someone out of something
write something down
write something into something
write something off
write something up
write-protect
writer
writer's block

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