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offensive

[uh-fen-siv or, for 4, 5, aw-fen-, of-en-]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying: offensive television commercials.

unpleasant or disagreeable to the sense: an offensive odor.

repugnant to the moral sense, good taste, or the like; insulting: an offensive remark; an offensive joke.

pertaining to offense or attack: the offensive movements of their troops.

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.

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Offensive is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

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Origin:
1540–50; < Medieval Latin offēnsīvus, equivalent to Latin offēns(us) past participle of offendere (see offend) + -īvus -ive

Related forms

of·fen·sive·ly, adverb

of·fen·sive·ness, noun

non·of·fen·sive, adjective

non·of·fen·sive·ly, adverb

non·of·fen·sive·ness, noun

EXPAND

o·ver·of·fen·sive, adjective

o·ver·of·fen·sive·ly, adverb

o·ver·of·fen·sive·ness, noun

pre·of·fen·sive, adjective

pre·of·fen·sive·ly, adverb

pre·of·fen·sive·ness, noun

qua·si-of·fen·sive, adjective

qua·si-of·fen·sive·ly, adverb

su·per·of·fen·sive, adjective, noun

su·per·of·fen·sive·ly, adverb

su·per·of·fen·sive·ness, noun

un·of·fen·sive, adjective

un·of·fen·sive·ly, adverb

un·of·fen·sive·ness, noun

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. displeasing, vexatious, vexing, unpleasant. See hateful. 2, 3. distasteful, disgusting, revolting, repellent. 3. repulsive, shocking. 4. invading, attacking.

Antonyms
1, 2. pleasing. 4. defensive.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To offensive

Example Sentences

Instead, his name crops up whenever a baseline of offensive futility is needed.

Students set up another free speech wall, this time taping over any language that could be deemed offensive.

To offset all this, the industry needs a charm offensive.

EXPAND

Instead, his name crops up whenever a baseline of offensive futility is needed.

Students set up another free speech wall, this time taping over any language that could be deemed offensive.

To offset all this, the industry needs a charm offensive.

The principal offensive weapon of a knight during battle was the lance.

Not many people can talk about so many risque issues with humor and without being offensive.

But if you have a risotto hankering and not much time, take the offensive.

It's time to correct your offensive fonts and graphics.

Most of the offensive value is produced by a small core.

Some of these statements can be offensive to the faculty or students who view them.

Even offensive speech in a private setting, evidently.

The city has a miasmic, sweetly offensive odor impregnable to the monsoon or to the daily industrial pollution.

Its less morally offensive to anyone who is there against their will.

Leaves have strong peppery scent that some people find offensive.

There is something particularly offensive to me in the forging of academic credentials.

But getting back to the ants: it's not really clear how they are supposed to be offensive.

Clearly it was time for preservationists to take the offensive.

Any other approach is simply offensive to the whole notion of scientific discovery.

For those who lack a sense of humor, often people laugh at statements that are deliberately offensive.

As a black-coffee drinker myself, the idea that a coffee could be white borders on offensive.

The blossom is pollinated by flies that are attracted by its offensive smell: rotting flesh.

In my opinion, evolutionary theories such as this are pretentious and offensive.

Of course, the arts needn't be offensive nor difficult to understand.

Whatever the subject, he had a view, usually offensive to one party or another.

Monitor the compost for offensive odors, which indicate an imbalance in the compost ratio.

Such an offensive often requires that folks essentially live out of plastic bags for weeks to prevent re-infestation of clothes.

These people only wanted to show us how much they loved and respected us, so it would be offensive to refuse food.

Testing for diseases has a real social benefit, but testing pre-schoolers to find out if they have the right stuff is offensive.

No connection to local culture, aesthetically bland if not offensive.

My purple potatoes were definitely less offensive than gelatinous fish.

The spider tasted meaty and fried, no more offensive than a chicken finger.

It was an offensive which plainly was to have humble and cautious beginnings, and.

There is absolutely nothing derrogatory or offensive about either word.

Second, the amount of scrutiny over the power consumption in this article is almost offensive.

His offensive moves, however, aren't those of a forward or a midfielder.

Elite players could be taking too many shots for optimal offensive efficiency,.

Months after the carefully planned offensive here, large areas of terrain are not fully cleared.

Only a few of these vehicles were built, though, and they carried no offensive weapons of their own.

Maybe the state should not be in the business of prosecuting politicians for their offensive views.

Fourth, go back on the offensive in retribution for their heresy.

But, ostensibly because the work's antiwar theme might be offensive to veterans, the museum painted over it within a day.

First, people can be offensive on the subject of race without being racist.

Yet any waste of a valuable resource is offensive at a visceral level.

They started calling reporters to take credit for it even as their offensive was underway.

But a participant from religious studies chastised him, saying she found his comments disparaging and offensive.

Its views may be odious, but free speech should be valued to protect not anodyne views but offensive ones.

We isolate and avoid smells that are offensive to us and work to enhance and encourage aromatically pleasing scents.

He nevertheless finished the practice and joined his fellow offensive linemen for post-practice conditioning.

Most of the videos are quite irreverent and could be offensive to those who have delicate.

The offensive use of geoengineering could take a variety of forms.

On the other hand, you could let him know that you find his stories offensive.

But many governments quickly found ways to block content they deemed offensive.

The consensus about what is tolerated and what deemed offensive or dangerous varies.

Drink and womanising destroyed his two marriages and landed him in court for offensive behaviour.

It took a full head-on offensive of screaming and kicking the dirt at close range to send him running.

Choudhury could hardly have dreamed up a more offensive act during the two-minute silence.

It is highly offensive and illegal to see two different human animals.

Please stop using a derogatory acronym that is offensive.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

offensive (əˈfɛnsɪv)

—*adj*
1.	unpleasant or disgusting, as to the senses
2.	causing anger or annoyance; insulting
3.	for the purpose of attack rather than defence

—n
4.	the offensive an attitude or position of aggression
5.	an assault, attack, or military initiative, esp a strategic one

of'fensively

—*adv*

of'fensiveness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

offensive

"attacking" (1547), "insulting" (1576), both from M.Fr. offensif (fem. offensive), from M.L. offensivus, from L. offensus, pp. of offendere "offend" (see offend). The noun is 1720 from the adj.

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