offline

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of a system, currently not connected (generally electrically) to a larger network. For example, a power plant which is not connected to the grid, or a computer which is not connected to the Internet or to any other communications service.

   “I saved the web pages so I could read them later offline.”

   “He only had the option to play offline games because there was no Wi-Fi.”

   “That original list of 2,315 solutions was embedded in the game’s code. That means the game was playable offline and could be downloaded onto phones or computers. The solutions to the original Wordle game were predetermined through October 20, 2027. The New York Times (NYT) hasn’t said if it plans to make any more changes or additions to that initial list.”

2. (broadly, not-comparable)Happening in the physical world (the real world) as opposed to on the internet.

   “offline meetings”

   “offline dating”

   “Thousands of violent videos are still available on the internet, according to Alexander, who claims they lead to an escalation in offline tensions between rival gangs. "I believe some young people are losing their lives as result of this material on the internet," she said.”

adv

1. (not-comparable)While offline; with an offline system.

   “The 2000 also emulates Diablo, Qume and NEC letter-quality printers, and has a large enough buffer memory to operate off line from the host computer for an hour.”

   “If you want to keep the phone bill down you can set up your Newsreader to operate offline. This means that your Newsreader will fetch new message headers, collect messages you wish to read, and send any responses you may have set up all in one go. You can then read news offline, while you are not running up the phone bill[…].”

   “Men like to play games online, and they also like to find out about the games that they play offline.”

   ““He’s not in a healthy state, in my opinion,” said his mother, Naomi Winch, who once became so frustrated with his phone use she threw his phone out a car window. His parents have tried to get him to engage with life offline.”

2. (not-comparable, slang)Outside the current meeting, in a more private setting.

   “At meetings, people cut off discussion by saying “Let’s continue that conversation offline,” even though they are meeting face to face, not online; “offline” is a new synonym for “in private,” as though everything public were now on the Internet.”

   “The person running the meeting also has the important job of saying “Take it offline.” Whenever two or more people get off on a tangent that doesn’t require everybody’s attention, instruct them to continue the conversation outside the boundaries of the meeting.”

   “Offer to discuss the topic offline or table the discussion until things cool down.”

verb

1. (transitive)To take (a system, etc.) offline; to demote from an active or online state.

   “Offlining a memory processor can be accomplished by using the flexible interleaving capability described earlier to interleave segments across subsets of the memory processors, avoiding the faulty one(s).”

   “Traditionally, you fixed the problem by offlining the disk and re-creating the disk's extents on a different disk using redundant extent copies and then dropping the failed disk.”

2. To raid another player's base while that player is not currently playing.