off the reservation
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Beyond the limits of authority or control
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Vượt quá giới hạn của thẩm quyền hoặc kiểm soát
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: outside a Native American reservation
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The rogue employee went off the reservation with his unapproved project
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “off the reservation” mean?
Beyond the limits of authority or control Literally: outside a Native American reservation
Is “off the reservation” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.