offense

American  

[uh-fens, aw-fens, of-ens] / əˈfɛns, ˈɔ fɛns, ˈɒf ɛns /

British, offence

noun

offenses plural

1. a violation or breaking of a social or moral rule; transgression; sin.

   Synonyms:

   fault, felony, trespass

2. a transgression of the law; misdemeanor.

   Synonyms:

   fault, felony, trespass

3. a cause of transgression or wrong.

4. something that offends or displeases.

5. the act of offending or displeasing.

6. the feeling of resentful displeasure caused.

   to give offense.

   Synonyms:

   wrath, resentment, umbrage, indignation

   Antonyms:

   pleasure

7. the act of attacking; attack or assault.

   weapons of offense.

   Synonyms:

   aggression

   Antonyms:

   defense

8. a person, army, etc., that is attacking.

   Synonyms:

   foe, enemy

9. Sports.

   1. the players or team unit responsible for attacking or scoring in a game.

   2. the players possessing or controlling the ball, puck, etc., or the aspects or period of a game when this obtains.

   3. a pattern or style of scoring attack.

      single-wing offense; fast-break offense.

   4. offensive effectiveness; ability to score.

      a total breakdown in offense.

10. Archaic. injury, harm, or hurt.

---

offense Idioms  

1. see no offense; take offense.

---

Synonym Usage

See crime.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-offense
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• offenses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of offense

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English offence, offense; in part from Middle French offens, from Latin offēnsus “collision, knock,” equivalent to offend(ere) ( see offend) + -tus suffix of verb action; in part from Middle French offense, ultimately from Latin offēnsa, feminine past participle of offendere

Explanation

The part of a team that tries to score points is called the offense. If you play forward on a soccer team, you are on offense. If you offend someone — that is you cause them to be upset because of your actions or words — then you may need to apologize for the offense. After all, you meant no offense when you said that disco was dead. How were you to know the guy still loved the '70s? In the eyes of the law, an offense is a crime.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

offense offenses

It’s a civil offense, not even as bad as a speeding ticket.

From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026

But VAR intervened, declaring that Embolo had crashed to the pitch in an effort to dupe the referee—an offense deemed worthy of ejection.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Having the three frontcourt players has been an adjustment for coach Lynne Roberts to find how to implement them all in the offense.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

Shohei Ohtani sparked the offense with his ninth leadoff home run of the season — and 22nd overall — on a two-hit day.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

Me: No offense to either of us, but our arches aren’t nearly as impressive.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

But experts cautioned against reading too much into year-over-year numbers that can fluctuate based on many factors — including how authorities classify and count certain offenses.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026

The appeals to the emergency docket have long outnumbered those to the merits docket, but most are procedural requests or requests to stay execution for capital offenses.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026

The types of offenses for each tier vary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

Party authorities punished nearly 160,000 people for offenses related to policy inaction, recklessness or deceit last year, a 16% increase from the 2024 total, according to official data.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026

At the time, I was shocked to find women in prison for such minor offenses.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Related Words

• breach
• crime
• infraction
• misdeed
• misdemeanor
• sin
• transgression
• wrongdoing