sendoff
noun
sendoff is a noun meaning “A demonstration of affection and well-wishing to someone leaving a place or group to begin a new undertaking; a farewell” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled S-E-N-D-O-F-F, and it appears about once in every 7 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of sendoff is sendoffs.
What does sendoff mean?
noun
- 1
A demonstration of affection and well-wishing to someone leaving a place or group to begin a new undertaking; a farewell.
- 2
A party for an colleague who is leaving; a farewell party.
We had a sendoff for our departing colleague as he left for a new job.
- 3
A memorial service or funeral.
- 4
Alternative form of send-off (“type of sports penalty”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce sendoff?
- US
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-sendoff.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sendoff
- sendoffs plural
- send-off
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is sendoff?
Sendoff appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 79,518th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Words people confuse with sendoff
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: send-off (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Sendoff in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense farewell party:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fête d'adieu, pot de départ |
| German | Abschiedsfeier |
| Spanish | despedida |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sendoff come from?
Deverbal from send off.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).