of·fend

(ə-fĕnd′)

v. of·fend·ed, of·fend·ing, of·fends

v.tr.

1. To cause displeasure, anger, resentment, or wounded feelings in: We were offended by his tasteless jokes.

2. To be displeasing or disagreeable to: Onions offend my sense of smell.

v.intr.

1. To result in displeasure: Bad manners may offend.

a. To violate a moral or divine law; sin.

b. To violate a rule or law: offended against the curfew.

[Middle English offenden, from Old French offendre, from Latin offendere; see g^when- in Indo-European roots.]

of·fend′er n.

Synonyms: offend, insult, affront, outrage
These verbs mean to cause resentment, humiliation, or hurt. To offend is to cause displeasure, wounded feelings, or repugnance in another: "He often offended men who might have been useful friends" (John Lothrop Motley).
Insult implies gross insensitivity, insolence, or contemptuous rudeness: "My father had insulted her by refusing to come to our wedding" (James Carroll).
To affront is to insult openly, usually intentionally: "He continued to belabor the poor woman in a studied effort to affront his hated chieftain" (Edgar Rice Burroughs).
Outrage implies the flagrant violation of a person's integrity, pride, or sense of right and decency: "He revered the men and women who transformed this piece of grassland into a great city, and he was outraged by the attacks on their reputation" (James S. Hirsch).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

offender - a person who transgresses moral or civil law

wrongdoer

abuser, maltreater - someone who abuses

aggressor, assailant, assaulter, attacker - someone who attacks

bad person - a person who does harm to others

barrater, barrator - someone guilty of barratry

convict - a person who has been convicted of a criminal offense

beguiler, cheater, deceiver, trickster, slicker, cheat - someone who leads you to believe something that is not true

delinquent, juvenile delinquent - a young offender

defector, deserter - a person who abandons their duty (as on a military post)

ganef, ganof, gonif, goniff - (Yiddish) a thief or dishonest person or scoundrel (often used as a general term of abuse)

transgressor - someone who transgresses; someone who violates a law or command; "the way of transgressors is hard"

malfeasant - one guilty of malfeasance

molester - someone who subjects others to unwanted or improper sexual activities

nonattender, no-show, truant - someone who shirks duty

culprit, perpetrator - someone who perpetrates wrongdoing

principal - (criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement

backslider, reversionist, recidivist - someone who lapses into previous undesirable patterns of behavior

miscreant, reprobate - a person without moral scruples

shark - a person who is ruthless and greedy and dishonest

pettifogger, shyster - a person (especially a lawyer or politician) who uses unscrupulous or unethical methods

evildoer, sinner - a person who sins (without repenting)

supplanter, usurper - one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another

war criminal - an offender who violates international law during times of war

offender

noun criminal, convict, con (slang), crook, lag (slang), villain, culprit, sinner, delinquent, felon, jailbird, wrongdoer, miscreant, malefactor, evildoer, transgressor, lawbreaker Sex offenders often attack again when they are released.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

offender

noun

One who commits a crime:

criminal, lawbreaker, malefactor.

Law: felon.

Translations

مُرْتَكِب جَريمَه، مُخالِف

lovovertræder

Missetäter

infractor delincuente

contrevenant délinquant

afbrotamaîur

delinquente peccatore trasgressore

lovovertreder

delikvent

prestopnik

suçlu

罪犯

offender

[əˈfəndəʳ] N

1. (= lawbreaker) → delincuente mf; (against traffic regulations etc) → infractor(a) m/f
first offender → delincuente mf sin antecedentes penales

2. (moral) → transgresor(a) m/f, pecador(a) m/f
regarding air pollution, industry is the worst offender → en lo que se refiere a la contaminación atmosférica, la industria es la mayor culpable

3. (= insulter) → ofensor(a) m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

offender

[əˈfɛndə^r] n

(= criminal) → délinquant(e) m/f

(against regulations) → contrevenant(e) m/f

to be the worst offender [thing, person] → être le grand coupable

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

offender

n (= law-breaker) → (Straf)täter(in) m(f); (against traffic laws) → Verkehrssünder(in) m(f); sex offender → Sexualstraftäter(in) m(f); who left that here? — I’m afraid I was the offender → wer hat das da liegen lassen? — ich war der Übeltäter; they are the worst offenders when it comes to … → wenn es um … geht, sind sie die schlimmsten ? first offender, young offender

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

offender

[əˈfɛndəʳ] n (frm) (criminal) → delinquente m/f; (culprit) → reo/a, colpevole m/f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

offend

(əˈfend) verb

1. to make feel upset or angry. If you don't go to her party she will be offended; His criticism offended her.

2. to be unpleasant or disagreeable. Cigarette smoke offends me.

ofˈfence , (American) ofˈfense noun

1. (any cause of) anger, displeasure, hurt feelings etc. That rubbish dump is an offence to the eye.

2. a crime. The police charged him with several offences.

ofˈfender noun

a person who offends, especially against the law.

ofˈfensive (-siv) adjective

1. insulting. offensive remarks.

2. disgusting. an offensive smell.

3. used to attack. an offensive weapon.

noun

an attack. They launched an offensive against the invading army.

ofˈfensively adverb

ofˈfensiveness noun

be on the offensive

to be making an attack. She always expects people to criticize her and so she is always on the offensive.

take offence (with at)

to be offended (by something). He took offence at what she said.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

you may well look at him.' He happened to have turned his eyes towards the offender whom Mr Meagles had so angrily collared.

View in context

It is this: The punishment which may be the consequence of conviction upon impeachment, is not to terminate the chastisement of the offender. After having been sentenced to a prepetual ostracism from the esteem and confidence, and honors and emoluments of his country, he will still be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.

View in context

"There is little doubt that my pretty piglet has been eaten by that horrid kitten, and if that is true the offender must be punished."

View in context

Caswall, who was the offender, are out of range as witnesses.

View in context

Chitling was considerably roused, hastened to assure him that nobody was laughing; and to prove the gravity of the company, appealed to Master Bates, the principal offender. But, unfortunately, Charley, in opening his mouth to reply that he was never more serious in his life, was unable to prevent the escape of such a violent roar, that the abused Mr.

View in context

The nearest relation gives the first thrust, and is followed by all the rest according to their degrees of kindred; and they to whom it does not happen to strike while the offender is alive, dip the points of their lances in his blood to show that they partake in the revenge.

View in context

My comrade, having the brand of an old offender, was executed; the young offender was spared, having obtained a reprieve, but lay starving a long while in prison, till at last she got her name into what they call a circuit pardon, and so came off.

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These solicitations were nevertheless unsuccessful: for though Mr Allworthy did not think, with some late writers, that mercy consists only in punishing offenders; yet he was as far from thinking that it is proper to this excellent quality to pardon great criminals wantonly, without any reason whatever.

View in context

The feuds of White Plume, however, had not been confined to the red men; he had much to say of brushes with bee hunters, a class of offenders for whom he seemed to cherish a particular abhorrence.

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For such offenders, if any such there be, a rod of birch is hanging over the fireplace, and a heavy ferule lies on the master's desk.

View in context

It has been used as a prison for political offenders for two or three hundred years, and its dungeon walls are scarred with the rudely carved names of many and many a captive who fretted his life away here and left no record of himself but these sad epitaphs wrought with his own hands.

View in context

"I'll tell you what, Wrench, this is beyond a joke," said the Mayor, who of late had had to rebuke offenders with an official air, and how broadened himself by putting his thumbs in his armholes.-- "To let fever get unawares into a house like this.

View in context