OFFENSIVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does offensive mean? 

• OFFENSIVE (noun)
  The noun OFFENSIVE has 1 sense:

1. the action of attacking an enemy

  Familiarity information: OFFENSIVE used as a noun is very rare.

• OFFENSIVE (adjective)
  The adjective OFFENSIVE has 6 senses:

1. violating or tending to violate or offend against

2. for the purpose of attack rather than defense

3. causing anger or annoyance

4. morally offensive

5. unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses

6. causing or able to cause nausea

  Familiarity information: OFFENSIVE used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OFFENSIVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The action of attacking an enemy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

offence; offense; offensive

Hypernyms ("offensive" 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 "offensive"):

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)

• OFFENSIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Violating or tending to violate or offend against

Synonyms:

offensive; violative

Context example:

considered such depravity offensive against all laws of humanity

Similar:

offending (offending against or breaking a law or rule)

Derivation:

offend (act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises)

offensiveness (the quality of being offensive)

Sense 2

Meaning:

For the purpose of attack rather than defense

Context example:

offensive weapons

Similar:

antipersonnel (designed to inflict death or personal injury rather than material destruction)

assaultive; attacking (disposed to attack)

hit-and-run; tip-and-run (designed for or consisting of a brief attack followed by a quick escape)

incursive; invading; invasive (involving invasion or aggressive attack)

marauding; predatory; raiding (characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding)

on the offensive (actively attacking)

Also:

aggressive (having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends)

hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)

Antonym:

defensive (intended or appropriate for defending against or deterring aggression or attack)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Causing anger or annoyance

Context example:

offensive remarks

Similar:

abusive; opprobrious; scurrilous (expressing offensive reproach)

Also:

harmful (causing or capable of causing harm)

disrespectful (exhibiting lack of respect; rude and discourteous)

Attribute:

distastefulness; odiousness; offensiveness (the quality of being offensive)

Antonym:

inoffensive (not causing anger or annoyance)

Derivation:

offend (cause to feel resentment or indignation)

offend (hurt the feelings of)

offensiveness (the quality of being offensive)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Morally offensive

Synonyms:

offensive; unsavory; unsavoury

Context example:

an unsavory scandal

Derivation:

offend (strike with disgust or revulsion)

offend (act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises)

offensiveness (the quality of being offensive)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses

Context example:

offensive odors

Similar:

verminous (of the nature of vermin; very offensive or repulsive)

scrimy (dirty and disgusting)

rank (very offensive in smell or taste)

objectionable; obnoxious (causing disapproval or protest)

hideous; horrid; horrific; outrageous (grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror)

ghoulish; morbid (suggesting the horror of death and decay)

creepy (annoying and unpleasant)

charnel; ghastly; sepulchral (gruesomely indicative of death or the dead)

abhorrent; detestable; obscene; repugnant; repulsive (offensive to the mind)

disgustful; disgusting; distasteful; foul; loathly; loathsome; repellant; repellent; repelling; revolting; skanky; wicked; yucky (highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust)

Also:

hateful (evoking or deserving hatred)

evil (morally bad or wrong)

unpalatable (not pleasant or acceptable to the taste or mind)

unpleasant (offensive or disagreeable; causing discomfort or unhappiness)

Attribute:

distastefulness; odiousness; offensiveness (the quality of being offensive)

Antonym:

inoffensive (giving no offense)

Derivation:

offend (strike with disgust or revulsion)

offensiveness (the quality of being offensive)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Causing or able to cause nausea

Synonyms:

loathsome; nauseating; nauseous; noisome; offensive; queasy; sickening; vile

Context example:

a sickening stench

Similar:

unwholesome (detrimental to physical or moral well-being)

Derivation:

offend (strike with disgust or revulsion)

offensiveness (the quality of being offensive)

 Context examples 

‘Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to you?’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I'll use a brand that is not offensive even to the angels.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He was not prone to rashness and precipitate action; and in the bitter hatred between him and Spitz he betrayed no impatience, shunned all offensive acts.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

'Shame! shame!' He had no desire to be offensive.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My look or something else must have struck her as offensive, for she spoke with extreme though suppressed irritation.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There is always something offensive in the details of cunning.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

If, in the explanation of them, which is due to myself, I am under the necessity of relating feelings which may be offensive to yours, I can only say that I am sorry.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The smell of these country inns is always most offensive to me—mais que voulez-vous?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In himself he was wearisome, but as the friend of Tom and the admirer of Julia he became offensive.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It will be obvious that any details which would help the reader exactly to identify the college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)