offensive
/ˈɔˌfɛnsɪv/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.46 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation.
adj
Causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation.
adj
Relating to an offense or attack, as opposed to defensive.
Example Sentences
- "Some people find pornography offensive."
- "An offensive smell."
- "A survey at Yale University had 63% of students wanting professors to issue “trigger warnings” before saying anything that some might find offensive or could cause painful emotions."
- "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."
- "The army's offensive capabilities. An offensive weapon."
- "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."
Etymology
From Middle French offensif, from offendre + -if by analogy with défensif. Offendre is from Latin offendere (“to offend”); see offend.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: offensif, offendo
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɔˌfɛnsɪv/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more offensive (comparative)
most offensive (superlative)
offencive (alternative, obsolete)
offensives (plural)
Derived Forms
Phrases
counter-offensive
non-offensive
offensive and defensive alliance
offensive back
offensive foul
offensive guard
offensive line
offensive line of scrimmage