Word.ws English Dictionary

take the offensive

take the offensive verb: to attack instead of defending; to be bold and proactive.

Verb

take the offensive (third-person singular simple present takes the offensive, present participle taking the offensive, simple past took the offensive, past participle taken the offensive)

  1. (idiomatic) To attack instead of defending; to be bold and proactive.
    Synonyms:
    go on the offensive

Synonyms of take the offensive

  • go on the offensive

Forms of take the offensive

third-person singular presenttakes the offensive
present participletaking the offensive
pasttook the offensive
past participletaken the offensive

Questions about take the offensive

What does take the offensive mean?
Take the offensive means to attack instead of defending; to be bold and proactive.
What part of speech is take the offensive?
Take the offensive is a verb.
What is the past tense of take the offensive?
The past tense of take the offensive is took the offensive.

Words near take the offensive in the dictionary

  1. take the meaning
  2. take the Michael
  3. take the mick
  4. take the mickey
  5. take the micky
  6. take the offensive
  7. take the pee
  8. take the piss
  9. take the place of
  10. take the pledge
  11. take the plunge

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take the offensive (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-take the offensive.ogg.

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