Word.ws English Dictionary

offends

offends is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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

Phrases with offends

Words that rhyme with offends

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about offends

What is offends the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Offends is the third-person singular simple present indicative of offend.

Words near offends in the dictionary

  1. offendotrons
  2. offendour
  3. offendours
  4. offendress
  5. offendresses
  6. offends
  7. offense
  8. offenseful
  9. offenseless
  10. offenselessly
  11. offenselessness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: offends (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.

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