off the pace
idiom
US
: behind in a race, competition, etc.
The winner finished in 4 minutes, 30 seconds, and the next runner was three seconds off the pace.
Examples of off the pace in a Sentence
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The team entered play Monday with a 52-53 record, eight games off the pace of the front-running Detroit Tigers in the American League Central but just three-and-a-half removed from the third and final wild-card spot.
—
Dan Schlossberg, Forbes.com, 29 July 2025
That was a widespread opinion around baseball at the All-Star break, when the second-winningest MLB franchise since 1990 sat fourth in the NL East, 12 1/2 games off the pace, and ninth in the wild-card standings, a daunting 9 1/2 games back from the third and final playoff spot.
—David O'Brien, New York Times, 19 July 2025
That’s quite a bit off the pace from the analogous night in 2019, when nearly 20% of all adults under 50 were watching TV, and worlds apart from the 30% rates that were standard throughout the aughts.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 11 July 2025
Stanway and Walsh failed to get into any kind of rhythm and looked off the pace.
—Charlotte Harpur, New York Times, 6 July 2025
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Dan Schlossberg, Forbes.com, 29 July 2025
That was a widespread opinion around baseball at the All-Star break, when the second-winningest MLB franchise since 1990 sat fourth in the NL East, 12 1/2 games off the pace, and ninth in the wild-card standings, a daunting 9 1/2 games back from the third and final playoff spot.
—David O'Brien, New York Times, 19 July 2025
That’s quite a bit off the pace from the analogous night in 2019, when nearly 20% of all adults under 50 were watching TV, and worlds apart from the 30% rates that were standard throughout the aughts.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 11 July 2025
Stanway and Walsh failed to get into any kind of rhythm and looked off the pace.
—Charlotte Harpur, New York Times, 6 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for off the pace
Cite this Entry
“Off the pace.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/off%20the%20pace. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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