Word.ws English Dictionary

offended

Syllables: of·fend·ed/əˈfɛndɪd/

offended is the simple past and past participle of offend.

Meaning of offend

Verb

offend (third-person singular simple present offends, present participle offending, simple past and past participle offended)

  1. (transitive) To hurt the feelings of; to displease; to make angry; to insult.
    • Your accusations offend me deeply.
  2. (intransitive) To feel or become offended; to take insult.
    • Don't worry. I don't offend easily.
  3. (transitive) To physically harm, pain.
    • Strong light offends the eye.
  4. (transitive) To annoy, cause discomfort or resent.
    • Physically enjoyable frivolity can still offend the conscience
  5. (intransitive) To sin, transgress divine law or moral rules.
    • I dailie and hourelie offend in thought, word, and deed, in a relapſe by mine owne weakneſſe and wilfulneſſe, my bonus Genius, my good protecting angel is gone, I am falne from that I was, or would bee, worſe and worſe, […]1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Cure of Deſpaire by Phyſick, good counſell, comforts, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert...
  6. (transitive) To transgress or violate a law or moral requirement.
    • Wearing faded baggy offends against the club's rules of proper dress.

See all 7 meanings of offend

Forms of offended

comparativemore offended
superlativemost offended

Words formed from offended

Phrases with offended

Words that rhyme with offended

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about offended

What is offended the simple past and past participle of?
Offended is the simple past and past participle of offend.
How do you pronounce offended?
Offended is pronounced /əˈfɛndɪd/.

Words near offended in the dictionary

  1. offencively
  2. offend
  3. offendable
  4. offendant
  5. offendants
  6. offended
  7. offendedly
  8. offendedness
  9. offendee
  10. offendees
  11. offender

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: offended (page history and authors); offend (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “offended.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/offended. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.