offender
Americannoun
-
someone who has violated a criminal, religious, or moral law.
The program aids individuals already in the criminal justice system and is geared toward nonviolent offenders.
-
a person or thing that irritates, annoys, or angers.
Some of us tried to take matters into our own hands by confronting the noise pollution offenders, but they were entirely unwilling to quiet down.
-
something that is disagreeable.
If you’re curious about the odor, I’m afraid you’ll find that the offender is a catbox that has not been emptied recently.
Other Word Forms
- nonoffender noun
Etymology
Origin of offender
Explanation
An offender is a criminal, someone who breaks the law. A first-time offender, depending on the crime, might only have to pay a fine or perform community service. Offender is the way prison inmates and lawbreakers are often referred to in news reports or by police officers and prison staff. You might hear terms like "drug offenders," people arrested for crimes involving illegal drugs, or "juvenile offenders," young people who have broken the law. Offender comes from the verb offend, "to sin against" in the fourteenth century, from the Latin offendere, "to hit or strike against."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Justice Department leaders offered to meet with lawmakers in the midst of sustained criticism over their handling of files on the sex offender.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
US lawmakers have repeatedly called for her former husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, to answer questions about his links to the late American financier and sex offender.
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026
Once released, he will be required to register as a sex offender.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026
Police are investigating a 2010 email Lord Mandelson appeared to share with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein about an EU bailout after the financial crash, Met chief Sir Mark Rowley has said.
From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026
Schirach’s successor, Artur Axmann, was sentenced to thirty-nine months’ imprisonment as a major offender and fined 35,000 marks.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
