off-the-shelf

American

[awf-thuh-shelf, of-] / ˈɔf ðəˈʃɛlf, ˈɒf- /

adjective

readily available from merchandise in stock.
made according to a standardized format; not developed for specialized or individual needs; ready-made.

off-the-shelf computer programs.

off the shelf British

adverb

from stock and readily available

you can have this model off the shelf

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

of or relating to a product that is readily available

an off-the-shelf model
of or denoting a company that has been registered with the Registrar of Companies for the sole purpose of being sold

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

off the shelf Idioms

Ready-made, available from merchandise or in stock, as opposed to a special order. For example, Sometimes you can get a better discount by buying an appliance off the shelf. [First half of 1900s] Also see off the rack; on the shelf.

Etymology

Origin of off-the-shelf

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Mr. Amodei turned Anthropic into an AI juggernaut by creating off-the-shelf AI tools for businesses, especially for coding.

From The Wall Street Journal

The off-the-shelf solution saves on time and costs as "we don't have to keep teaching people how to use a proprietary tech" developed in-house, Amos added.

From Barron's

Moves to address these "deficiencies" were underway, including the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative, "which aims to close air-defence gaps with off-the-shelf procurement of systems".

From Barron's

Frustrated with the pace of change, last year, Breuer started to give money directly to battalion and brigade commanders so they can buy off-the-shelf commercial drones and other equipment so they can experiment.

From The Wall Street Journal

"Open source techniques that we use to train our own in-house models are 30% more accurate than the leading off-the-shelf models," Madrigal said.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023