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offensive
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Offensive
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle French offensif, from offendre + -if by analogy with défensif. Offendre is from Latin offendere (“to offend”); see offend.
Pronunciation
Adjective
offensive (comparative more offensive, superlative most offensive)
- Causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation.
- Antonym: inoffensive
- Some people find pornography offensive.
- An offensive smell.
- 2025 May 15, “Europe’s free-speech problem”, in The Economist:
- Britain’s police are especially zealous. Officers spend thousands of hours sifting through potentially offensive posts and arrest 30 people a day. Among those collared were a man who ranted about immigration on Facebook and a couple who criticised their daughter’s primary school.
- Relating to an offense or attack, as opposed to defensive.
- Antonym: defensive
- The army's offensive capabilities. An offensive weapon.
- 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6:
- In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
- (sports) Having to do with play directed at scoring.
- The offensive coordinator is responsible for ordering all rushing plays.
Synonyms
- aggressive
- invidious (Intending to cause envious offense)
- unheard-of
Derived terms
Related terms
Collocations
with nouns
- offensive content
- offensive language
- offensive material
- offensive word
- offensive comment
- offensive remark
- offensive statement
- offensive speech
- offensive joke
- offensive humor
- offensive image
- offensive picture
- offensive art
- offensive behavior
- offensive conduct
- offensive act
- offensive action
Translations
causing offense
|
relating to attack, offense
|
team sports: having to do with play directed at scoring
|
Noun
offensive (countable and uncountable, plural offensives)
- (countable, military) An attack.
- The Marines today launched a major offensive.
- 1939 January, Lin Yu, “The "China Incident"”, in Philippine Magazine, volume XXXVI, number 1, →OCLC, page 121:
- In Central Hupeh, the Japanese launched another offensive from the Kingshan region, but instead of moving southwestward to cooperate with another column of theirs to capture Shasi, this column swerved to the northwest and succeeded in capturing Chunghsiang on the Han River.
- (uncountable) The posture of attacking or being able to attack.
- He took the offensive in the press, accusing his opponent of corruption.
Derived terms
Translations
an attack
|
posture of attack
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
- “offensive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “offensive”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
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Danish
Adjective
offensive
- plural and definite singular attributive of offensiv
French
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
First attested 1417; formed from offense, from Latin offēnsare (“to strike against”).
Noun
offensive f (plural offensives)
Derived terms
- offensive terrestre
Descendants
- → German: Offensive
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Adjective
offensive
Further reading
- “offensive”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Adjective
offensive
- inflection of offensiv:
Italian
Pronunciation
Adjective
offensive
Noun
offensive f
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
offensive
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
offensive
Swedish
Adjective
offensive
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