offender

[uh-fen-der]

noun

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of offender¹

offend ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

All 12 offenders pleaded guilty to drugs offences.

Read more on BBC

The primary reason black residents weren’t disproportionately likely to be crime victims—despite this high rate of intraracial crime—is that there are comparatively few crimes committed against black victims by white offenders.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The new rules exacerbated other causes on both the A320neo and its predecessor, helping transform what had been mostly isolated incidents into a pattern of repeat offenders, the Journal’s analysis suggests.

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Cops were forced to police the crowd’s behavior, yanking the worst offenders from the rope line.

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Reporting of such young offenders, however, is not always consistent across schools and police forces, as the age of criminal responsibility is 10.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• convict 
• criminal 
• culprit 
• delinquent 
• felon 
• lawbreaker 
• suspect