offensive

Syllables: of·fen·sive/əˈfɛnsɪv/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

pin pen merger/əˈfɪ̟nsɪv/

offensive adjective: causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation.

Adjective

offensive (comparative more offensive, superlative most offensive)

Causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation.
- Some people find pornography offensive.
- An offensive smell.
Antonyms:

inoffensive
1. (broadly) Socially disrespectful; insensitive.
Relating to an offense or attack, as opposed to defensive.
- 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...2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6
Antonyms:

defensive
Having to do with play directed at scoring.
- The offensive coordinator is responsible for ordering all rushing plays.

Noun

offensive (countable and uncountable, plural offensives)

(countable) An attack.
- 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.1939 January, Lin Yu, “The "China Incident"”, in Philippine Magazine, volume XXXVI, number 1, →OCLC, page 121
(uncountable) The posture of attacking or being able to attack.
- He took the offensive in the press, accusing his opponent of corruption.

offensive meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

offensive in Hindi

causing offense: अपकारी apkārī
relating to attack, offense: अपकारी apkārī
an attack: हमला hamlā, आक्रमण ākramaṇ

offensive in Tamil

மனதிற்கு ஒவ்வாத, மனதைப் புண்படுத்தும், தாக்குதற்குரிய, தீங்கு விளைவிக்கக்கூடிய, வலிதாக்குதல்

offensive in Marathi

आक्रमक, आक्षेपार्ह, आक्रमणात्मक

offensive in Urdu

an attack: حملہ hamlā

More languagesFewer languages

offensive in Bengali: আক্রমণ, আক্রমণের প্রণালী, আক্রমণের ভঙ্গি, আক্রমণাত্মক
offensive in Malayalam: ആക്രമണം ākramaṇaṁ
offensive in Kannada: ಪೆಡಸು
offensive in Gujarati: આક્રમક, આક્રમણકારી
offensive in Odia: ଆକ୍ରମଣାତ୍ମକ, ଆକ୍ରମଣାତ୍ମକ |
offensive in Nepali: आक्रामक, आक्रमणात्मक
offensive in Pashto: حمله hamla, هجوم hojum
offensive in Tagalog: nakasasakit, opensibo
offensive in Arabic: هُجُوم hujūm, حَمْلَة ḥamla, هَجْمَة hajma
offensive in Malay: ofensif
offensive in Indonesian: menyinggung, tidak sopan
offensive in Persian: هجوم hojum, حمله hamle
offensive in Thai: การโจมตี gaan-joom-dtii
offensive in Vietnamese: xúc phạm, sỉ nhục, sự tấn công

Examples of offensive in a sentence

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.2016 September 12, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Political Incorrectness Is Just a Strategy”, in Time, archived from the...
Officers spend thousands of hours sifting through potentially offensive posts and arrest 30 people a day.2025 May 15, “Europe’s free-speech problem”, in The Economist:
In the winter of 1939–1940, the Nationalists launched an offensive against the outskirts of the Border Region.1971, Kenneth E. Shewmaker, “Closing the Door: 1939”, in Americans and Chinese Communists, 1927–1945: A Persuading Encounter, Cornell...

All 40 example sentences with offensive

Synonyms of offensive

Antonyms

Forms of offensive

Adjective
comparative	more offensive
superlative	most offensive
alternative form (obsolete)	offencive
Noun
plural	offensives

Plural of offensive: offensives

Origin of offensive

From Middle French offensif, from offendre + -if by analogy with défensif. Offendre is from Latin offendere (“to offend”); see offend.

Words formed from offensive

Phrases with offensive

Questions about offensive

What does offensive mean?: Offensive means causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation.
What is offensive in Hindi?: Offensive in Hindi is अपकारी (apkārī), हमला (hamlā), आक्रमण (ākramaṇ). See Offensive meaning in Hindi.
How do you use offensive in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is offensive?: Offensive can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce offensive?: Offensive is pronounced /əˈfɛnsɪv/.

Words near offensive in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: offensive (page history and authors); offensive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); offensive (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); offensive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); offensive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); offensive (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); offensive (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); offensive (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-offensive.ogg.

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