off the mark

off the mark

1. (figuratively) Inaccurate; not correct or appropriate.

   His answers are consistently off the mark. None of them quite make sense.

   • 2014 September 8, Michael White, “Roll up, roll up! The Amazing Salmond will show a Scotland you won't believe”, in The Guardian:

     Whatever the outcome, Fleet Street's introspective pundits will say: "I told you so", and make dire predictions for the future, which are likely to be off the mark.

2. Making a start (generally in comparison to others).
   • 2017, E. R. Hooton, Prelude to the First World War: The Balkan Wars 1912-1913, page iv:

     Sarafov was the first off the mark, but the other divisions did not jump off until an hour later and achieved nothing.

• wide of the mark

• near the mark
• on the mark

• get off the mark