OFFENCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does offence mean? 

• OFFENCE (noun)
  The noun OFFENCE has 5 senses:

1. the action of attacking an enemy

2. the team that has the ball (or puck) and is trying to score

3. a feeling of anger caused by being offended

4. a lack of politeness; a failure to show regard for others; wounding the feelings or others

5. a transgression that constitutes a violation of what is judged to be right

  Familiarity information: OFFENCE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OFFENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The action of attacking an enemy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

offence; offense; offensive

Hypernyms ("offence" is a kind of...):

military operation; operation (activity by a military or naval force (as a maneuver or campaign))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "offence"):

counteroffensive (a large scale offensive (more than a counterattack) undertaken by a defending force to seize the initiative from an attacking force)

dirty war (an offensive conducted by secret police or the military of a regime against revolutionary and terrorist insurgents and marked by the use of kidnapping and torture and murder with civilians often being the victims)

push back; rollback (the act of forcing the enemy to withdraw)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The team that has the ball (or puck) and is trying to score

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

offence; offense

Hypernyms ("offence" is a kind of...):

squad; team (a cooperative unit (especially in sports))

Antonym:

defence ((sports) the team that is trying to prevent the other team from scoring)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A feeling of anger caused by being offended

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

offence; offense; umbrage

Context example:

he took offence at my question

Hypernyms ("offence" is a kind of...):

anger; choler; ire (a strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance)

Derivation:

offend (cause to feel resentment or indignation)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A lack of politeness; a failure to show regard for others; wounding the feelings or others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

discourtesy; offence; offense; offensive activity

Hypernyms ("offence" is a kind of...):

behavior; behaviour; conduct; doings (manner of acting or controlling yourself)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "offence"):

derision; ridicule (the act of deriding or treating with contempt)

indelicacy (an impolite act or expression)

insolence (an offensive disrespectful impudent act)

affront; insult (a deliberately offensive act or something producing the effect of deliberate disrespect)

presumption (a kind of discourtesy in the form of an act of presuming)

rebuff; slight (a deliberate discourteous act (usually as an expression of anger or disapproval))

Sense 5

Meaning:

A transgression that constitutes a violation of what is judged to be right

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

offence; offense

Hypernyms ("offence" is a kind of...):

evildoing; transgression (the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "offence"):

crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)

 Context examples 

Emma's going away directly after tea might be giving offence.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I mean no offence, believe me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“No offence to anybody, Mr. Wickfield. I only mean that I suppose some compensation is fair and reasonable in that sort of marriage.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

If she felt such confidence in my good intentions, and could suppose it to be only a mistake, why should you be so ready to take offence?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Robert's offence was unpardonable, but Lucy's was infinitely worse.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“Hoping that it will give thee no offence, most holy sir”—with a vicious snap at Alleyne—“and with the kind permit of the company, I will even venture upon it.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I laid his offence before him.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That punishment, the public punishment of disgrace, should in a just measure attend his share of the offence is, we know, not one of the barriers which society gives to virtue.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Well, sir, said the captain, better speak plain, I believe, even at the risk of offence.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I never suffer a word to pass that may look like reflection, or possibly give the least offence, even to those who are most ready to take it.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)