Set-Off

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. That which is set off against another thing; an offset. I do not contemplate such a heroine as a set-off to the many sins imputed to me as committed against woman. D. Jerrold.

2. That which is used to improve the appearance of anything; a decoration; an ornament.

3. A counterclaim; a cross debt or demand; a distinct claim filed or set up by the defendant against the plaintiff's demand.

4. Same as Offset, n., 4.

5. See Offset, 7.

Synonyms: Set-off, Offset. Offset originally denoted that which branches off or projects, as a shoot from a tree, but the term has long been used in America in the sense of set-off. This use is beginning to obtain in England; though Macaulay uses set-off, and so, perhaps, do a majority of English writers.