offensive
Americanadjective
-
causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying.
offensive television commercials.
- Synonyms:
- unpleasant, vexatious
- Antonyms:
- pleasing
-
unpleasant or disagreeable to the sense.
an offensive odor.
- Synonyms:
- repellent, revolting, disgusting, distasteful
- Antonyms:
- pleasing
-
repugnant to the moral sense, good taste, or the like; insulting.
an offensive remark; an offensive joke.
- Synonyms:
- disgusting, distasteful, shocking, repulsive, repellent, revolting
-
pertaining to offense or attack.
the offensive movements of their troops.
- Antonyms:
- defensive
-
characterized by attack; aggressive.
offensive warfare.
noun
-
offensives
plural
-
the position or attitude of aggression or attack.
to take the offensive.
-
an aggressive movement or attack.
a carefully planned naval offensive.
adjective
-
unpleasant or disgusting, as to the senses
-
causing anger or annoyance; insulting
-
for the purpose of attack rather than defence
noun
-
an attitude or position of aggression
-
an assault, attack, or military initiative, esp a strategic one
Usage
The label Offensive is used in this dictionary to indicate that a particular term or definition is likely to be perceived as insulting by a listener or reader—an affront to that particular individual or to an entire group of like individuals—whether or not an offense was intended. Offensive is often paired with the label Disparaging, which is used to indicate that those people who use the offensive term do so to offend intentionally.
Synonym Usage
See hateful.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
nonoffensivenessnoun
-
offensivenessnoun
-
overoffensivenessnoun
-
preoffensivenessnoun
-
superoffensivenessnoun
-
unoffensivenessnoun
-
nonoffensiveadjective
-
overoffensiveadjective
-
preoffensiveadjective
-
quasi-offensiveadjective
-
superoffensiveadjective
-
unoffensiveadjective
-
nonoffensivelyadverb
-
offensivelyadverb
-
overoffensivelyadverb
-
preoffensivelyadverb
-
quasi-offensivelyadverb
-
superoffensivelyadverb
-
unoffensivelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of offensive
First recorded in 1540–50; from Medieval Latin offēnsīvus, from Latin offēns(us) “struck against” (past participle of offendere “to strike against, displease”; see offend) + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Offensive describes rude or hurtful behavior, or a military or sports incursion into an opponent's territory. In any context, "on the offensive" means on the attack. Although offense and defense are opposites, offensive and defensive aren't always. Defensive can mean anxiously challenging of all criticism. Offensive can mean not just attacking someone or something, but belching, insulting people, or otherwise not respecting common standards of behavior.
Vocabulary lists containing offensive
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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American Football, 1st Quarter
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)
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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.
See Examples For:
In this week’s Dow Jones Risk Journal Podcast: A new White House initiative could allow cybersecurity firms to help the government conduct offensive operations against foreign criminal groups.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
It’s clear the Chargers are still figuring out Mike McDaniel’s offense, and the new offensive coordinator wasn’t even getting exotic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Foreigners have been penalised for offensive acts at religious sites, forming exclusive tourist enclaves and flouting traffic laws.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The US-based World Central Kitchen condemned the decision calling it "inconsistent with the full truth and deeply offensive".
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
That summer, a brief Russian offensive faltered in the face of a German counterattack.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
The frequency of attacks on healthcare suggests that they are "a sustained feature of the war rather than an episodic consequence of large scale offensives," the report said.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Although bombing contributed to Germany’s defeat in World War II, it took ground offensives by the Allied powers to win that war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
Rebel factions have pledged to block the vote from the enclaves they control, and the junta has admitted the vote cannot be held nationwide, but is waging offensives in a bid to claw back ground.
From Barron's ● Jan. 5, 2026
He shouldn’t have lasted two innings but he survived, squelching early Dodger offensives and holding them to those two early runs while completing four innings despite three walks and four hits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025
And he refrained for the moment from ordering further offensives.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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.
