branch off

IPA/bɹˈantʃ ˈɒf/
IPA/bɹˈæntʃ ˈɔf/

branch off — phrasal verb

  • branch offbase form
  • branches off3rd person singular
  • branching off-ing form
  • branched offpast simple

1. When a road, path, or river branches off, it stops following the main route and

1.phrasal verbintransitiveB1
Definition

When a road, path, or river branches off, it stops following the main route and heads away on its own course.

Example

A narrow path branches off from the main trail near the old oak tree.

branch off from + location

The highway branches off into two smaller roads just past Millbrook.

Common collocations
  • branch off from
  • branch off into
Synonyms
  • diverge

    more formal; used in both literal and figurative contexts

  • fork

    specifically describes a road splitting into two separate routes

Antonyms
  • merge

    the opposite action — two roads or rivers join together instead of splitting

Grammar Patterns

branch off

branch off from [road/path]

branch off into [branches]

2. When driving, if you branch off, you leave the main road you are on and go onto

2.phrasal verbintransitiveB1
Definition

When driving, if you branch off, you leave the main road you are on and go onto a smaller road that leads somewhere different.

Example

Ari branched off the motorway at exit 14 to find a petrol station.

branch off + [road] at [exit]

Nkechi branched off onto a dirt road to reach her grandmother's farm.

branch off onto [smaller road]

Common collocations
  • branch off the
  • branch off onto
  • branch off at
Synonyms
  • turn off

    more common in everyday speech; less specific about road size

Antonyms
  • join

    the opposite action — going from a smaller road onto a main road

Grammar Patterns

branch off [road]

branch off onto [smaller road]

branch off at [exit/place]

Usage Note

The driver or vehicle is the grammatical subject of this sense. In sense 1, the road or path itself is the subject.

Common Mistakes

The car branched off the highway at exit 8.
Ari branched off the highway at exit 8.
This sense typically requires a person as the subject, not a vehicle.

Word family

Etymology

Old FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word 'branch' comes from Old French 'branche', meaning a limb of a tree. From the 1300s, English used it literally for tree limbs. The verb sense — for a road, river, or person to split off like a tree branch — appeared in the 1600s, and the phrasal verb 'branch off' became common by the 1700s.