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
-
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.
Related Words
See hateful.
Other Word Forms
- nonoffensive adjective
- nonoffensively adverb
- nonoffensiveness noun
- offensively adverb
- offensiveness noun
- overoffensive adjective
- overoffensively adverb
- overoffensiveness noun
- preoffensive adjective
- preoffensively adverb
- preoffensiveness noun
- quasi-offensive adjective
- quasi-offensively adverb
- superoffensive adjective
- superoffensively adverb
- superoffensiveness noun
- unoffensive adjective
- unoffensively adverb
- unoffensiveness noun
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”; offend ) + -īvus -ive
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.
People on social media claimed the offensive language in the alert was due to Google's use of generative AI, but the company said that was not the case.
From BBC
That decision prompted Jim Paterson, Lomond Banks' development director, to say opponents of the plan had run a campaign with "baseless and offensive" claims about the plan, claiming this was rooted in "hysteria and mistruth".
From BBC
During the ceremony, host Alan Cumming referred to "some strong and offensive language" from someone with Tourette's who therefore had "no control over their language", adding: "We apologise if you were offended."
From BBC
The French prodigy struggled to make an offensive mark on the early action.
From Barron's
They remain active in a very small part of Russia's Kursk region after launching an offensive in August 2024, but have lost control of all major settlements there.
From BBC
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.
