offense
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See also: offensé
English
Alternative forms
- offence (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand)
Etymology
From Middle English offence, from Old French offense, from Latin offensa (“a striking against; displeasure; injury”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əˈfɛns/
Audio (US) (file) - (team sports senses, especially in the U.S.): IPA(key): /ˈɔf.ɛns/, /ˈɑf.ɛns/)
- Hyphenation: of‧fense
- Rhymes: -ɛns
Noun
offense (countable and uncountable, plural offenses) (American spelling)
- The act of offending.
- A crime or sin.
- 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 3, in My Bondage and My Freedom. , New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan , →OCLC:
- The slave fully appreciates the saying, "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." When old master's gestures were violent, ending with a threatening shake of the head, and a sharp snap of his middle finger and thumb, I deemed it wise to keep at a respectable distance from him; for, at such times, trifling faults stood, in his eyes, as momentous offenses; and, having both the power and the disposition, the victim had only to be near him to catch the punishment, deserved or undeserved.
- 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
- The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.
- An affront, injury, or insult.
- 1681, John Dryden, “The Preface to Ovid’s Epistles”, in Ovid, Ovid’s Epistles, , 2nd edition, London: Jacob Tonson , →OCLC, page 26:
- Thus I have ventur'd to give my Opinion on this Subject againſt the Authority of two great men, but I hope without offence either to their Memories, for I both lov'd them living, and reverence them now they are dead.
- A crime or sin.
- The state of being offended or displeased; anger; displeasure.
- (team sports) A strategy and tactics employed when in position to score; contrasted with defense.
- (team sports) The portion of a team dedicated to scoring when in position to do so; contrasted with defense.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:offense
Antonyms
Derived terms
- capital offense
- criminal offense
- hanging offense, hanging offence
- hurry-up offense
- indictable offense, indictable offence
- lesser included offense
- no offense
- offence to be taken into consideration
- offensive and defensive alliance
- primary offense
- regulatory offense, regulatory offence
- shotgun offense
- status offense
- summary offense, summary offence
- take offense
- the best defense is a good offense
- West Coast offense
Related terms
Translations
act of offending against the law
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act of offending against manners
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state of being offended
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strategy and tactics employed when in position to score
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portion of a team dedicated to scoring
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Verb
offense
- inflection of offenser:
Latin
Pronunciation
Adjective
offēnse