of·fense ( -f ns )n.1. a. The act of causing anger, resentment, displeasure, or affront. b. The state of being offended. 2. a. A violation or infraction of a moral or social code; a transgression or sin. b. A transgression of law; a crime. 3. Something that outrages moral sensibilities: Genocide is an offense to all civilized humans. 5. ( fns ) Sports a. The means or tactics used in attempting to score. b. A team in possession of the ball or puck, or those players whose primary duty is to attempt to score. c. Scoring ability or potential.
[Middle English, from Old French ofense, from Latin off nsa, from feminine past participle of offendere, to offend; see offend.] |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Noun | 1. | offense - a lack of politeness; a failure to show regard for others; wounding the feelings or othersinsolence - an offensive disrespectful impudent act affront, insult - a deliberately offensive act or something producing the effect of deliberate disrespect; "turning his back on me was a deliberate insult" presumption - a kind of discourtesy in the form of an act of presuming; "his presumption was intolerable" rebuff, slight - a deliberate discourteous act (usually as an expression of anger or disapproval) | | 2. |  offense - a feeling of anger caused by being offended; "he took offence at my question"anger, ire, choler - a strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance | | 3. |  offense - (criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act; "a long record of crimes"evildoing, transgression - the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle; "the boy was punished for the transgressions of his father" barratry - the offense of vexatiously persisting in inciting lawsuits and quarrels capital offense - a crime so serious that capital punishment is considered appropriate cybercrime - crime committed using a computer and the internet to steal a person's identity or sell contraband or stalk victims or disrupt operations with malevolent programs felony - a serious crime (such as murder or arson) forgery - criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud fraud - intentional deception resulting in injury to another person Had crime - (Islam) serious crimes committed by Muslims and punishable by punishments established in the Koran; "Had crimes include apostasy from Islam and murder and theft and adultery" highjack, hijack - seizure of a vehicle in transit either to rob it or divert it to an alternate destination mayhem - the willful and unlawful crippling or mutilation of another person attempt, attack - the act of attacking; "attacks on women increased last year"; "they made an attempt on his life" Tazir crime - (Islam) minor crimes committed by Muslims; crimes that are not mentioned in the Koran so judges are free to punish the offender in any appropriate way; "in some Islamic nations Tazir crimes are set by legislation" thuggery - violent or brutal acts as of thugs victimless crime - an act that is legally a crime but that seem to have no victims; "he considers prostitution to be a victimless crime" war crime - a crime committed in wartime; violation of rules of war criminal law - the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment abduct, kidnap, nobble, snatch - take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom; "The industrialist's son was kidnapped" shanghai, impress - take (someone) against his will for compulsory service, especially on board a ship; "The men were shanghaied after being drugged" skyjack - subject an aircraft to air piracy; "the plane was skyjacked to Uzbekistan" carjack - take someone's car from him by force, usually with the intention of stealing it; "My car was carjacked last night!" extort - obtain through intimidation scalp - sell illegally, as on the black market bootleg - sell illicit products such as drugs or alcohol; "They were bootlegging whiskey" push - sell or promote the sale of (illegal goods such as drugs); "The guy hanging around the school is pushing drugs" pyramid - use or deal in (as of stock or commercial transaction) in a pyramid deal ransom, redeem - exchange or buy back for money; under threat traffic - deal illegally; "traffic drugs" mug - rob at gunpoint or with the threat of violence; "I was mugged in the streets of New York last night" | | 4. | offense - the team that has the ball (or puck) and is trying to scoreteam, squad - a cooperative unit (especially in sports) defending team, defence, defense - (sports) the team that is trying to prevent the other team from scoring; "his teams are always good on defense" | | 5. |  offense - the action of attacking an enemymilitary operation, operation - activity by a military or naval force (as a maneuver or campaign); "it was a joint operation of the navy and air force" 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; "thousands of people disappeared and were killed during Argentina's dirty war in the late 1970s" |
|
|
Mentioned in
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Email
Feedback
Add definition
offense