offensive
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: government
hobbies
lifestyle
military
politics
sports
war
Etymology: From Middle French offensif, from offendre + -if by analogy with défensif. Offendre is from Latin offendere (“to offend”); see offend.
Inflected forms:
form: more offensive
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most offensive
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: offencive
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: offensives
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: offencive
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: Causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Relating to an offense or attack, as opposed to defensive.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Having to do with play directed at scoring.
pos: adj
examples: The offensive coordinator is responsible for ordering all rushing plays.
gloss: An attack.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: The Marines today launched a major offensive.
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.
By the summer of 1939, a stringent military blockade had been imposed on the Shen-Kan-Ning. In the winter of 1939–1940, the Nationalists launched an offensive against the outskirts of the Border Region. Thereafter, blockhouses were erected, 200,000 KMT troops were stationed around the Shen-Kan-Ning, and all economic aid to the Communists was suspended.
Israel has launched a major aerial and ground offensive into the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, its biggest military operation in the Palestinian territory in years, in what it described as an “extensive counter-terrorism effort”.
gloss: The posture of attacking or being able to attack.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: He took the offensive in the press, accusing his opponent of corruption.
Synonyms: aggressive
invidious
unheard-of
Related words: offend
offense
Derived words: counteroffensive
cyberoffensive
inoffensive
nonoffensive
non-offensive
offensive and defensive alliance
offensive back
offensive foul
offensive guard
offensive line
offensive line of scrimmage
offensively
offensiveness
offensive tackle
offensive to pious ears
offensive zone
overoffensive
superoffensive
unoffensive
counter-offensive
charm offensive
prawn cocktail offensive
take the offensive
Translations: