OFFENSIVENESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does offensiveness mean? 

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

1. the quality of being offensive

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• OFFENSIVENESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being offensive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

distastefulness; odiousness; offensiveness

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

unpleasantness (the quality of giving displeasure)

Attribute:

offensive (unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses)

inoffensive (giving no offense)

offensive (causing anger or annoyance)

inoffensive; unoffending (not causing anger or annoyance)

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

blatancy (the property of being both obvious and offensive)

loathsomeness; lousiness; repulsiveness; sliminess; vileness; wickedness (the quality of being disgusting to the senses or emotions)

hatefulness; objectionableness; obnoxiousness (the quality of being hateful)

Derivation:

offensive (unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses)

offensive (morally offensive)

offensive (causing anger or annoyance)

offensive (violating or tending to violate or offend against)

offensive (causing or able to cause nausea)

 Context examples 

Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)