Off the top of my head

Idioms | B2

Examples and explanation

We say off the top of my head when you need to think of something or remember something without any time to think, prepare or do research.

If you can answer someone’s question from memory, but you want to warn them that you haven’t thought carefully about the answer, you might introduce your answer with ‘Off the top of my head’.

e.g. A: Which street was that nice old antique shop on?

B: Off the top of my head, I think it was George Street.

A useful way to use this phrase is to tell people that you can’t answer a question from memory.

e.g. A: Do you remember what time the film starts on Saturday?

B: Not off the top of my head. You should look it up on the cinema website.

Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?

Accent: Ireland