inoffensive

[in-uh-fen-siv]

adjective

1. causing no harm, trouble, or annoyance.

   a mild, inoffensive man.

   Synonyms: unoffending, innocuous, harmless

2. not objectionable, as to the senses.

   an inoffensive odor.

inoffensive

/ ˌɪnəˈfɛnsɪv /

adjective

1. not giving offence; unobjectionable

2. not unpleasant, poisonous, or harmful

Other Word Forms

• inoffensively adverb
• inoffensiveness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of inoffensive¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; in- ³ + offensive

Example Sentences

In a victim personal statement, the victim's brother, John Blackwood, said she was the "hub of the family... affable, inoffensive" and had many friends.

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It’s surrounded by modern apartment buildings, boxy and inoffensive, built to blend in with today’s taste.

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Ron lives and works in Ohio, a place enveloped in a galaxy of beiges and inoffensive cool tones.

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But that also affirms her as a real person as opposed to a flattened personality, one who is inoffensive, a little twee and unbothered about being an amateur with A-list chefs on speed dial.

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Maybe its blandness is its superpower: adaptable, inoffensive, and always ready to be whatever we want it to be.

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Related Words

• innocuous 
• pleasant 
• unobtrusive