Offender
(Of*fend"er) n. One who offends; one who violates any law, divine or human; a wrongdoer.
I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
1 Kings i. 21. Offendress
(Of*fend"ress) n. A woman who offends. Shak.
Offense
(Of*fense", Of*fence") n. [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
1. The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury.
Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.
Rom. iv. 25.
I have given my opinion against the authority of two great men, but I hope without offense to their memories.
Dryden. 2. The state of being offended or displeased; anger; displeasure.
He was content to give them just cause of offense, when they had power to make just revenge.
Sir P.
Sidney. 3. A cause or occasion of stumbling or of sin. [Obs.]
Woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!
Matt. xviii. 7. This word, like expense, is often spelled with a c. It ought, however, to undergo the same change with
expense, the reasons being the same, namely, that s must be used in offensive as in expensive, and
is found in the Latin offensio, and the French offense.
To take offense, to feel, or assume to be, injured or affronted; to become angry or hostile. — Weapons
of offense, those which are used in attack, in distinction from those of defense, which are used to
repel.
Syn. — Displeasure; umbrage; resentment; misdeed; misdemeanor; trespass; transgression; delinquency; fault; sin; crime; affront; indignity; outrage; insult.
Offenseful
(Of*fense"ful) a. Causing offense; displeasing; wrong; as, an offenseful act. [R.]
Offenseless
(Of*fense"less), a. Unoffending; inoffensive.
Offensible
(Of*fen"si*ble) a. That may give offense. [Obs.]
Offension
(Of*fen"sion) n. [OF., fr. L. offensio an offense.] Assault; attack. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Offensive
(Of*fen"sive) a. [Cf.F. offensif. See Offend.]
1. Giving offense; causing displeasure or resentment; displeasing; annoying; as, offensive words.
2. Giving pain or unpleasant sensations; disagreeable; revolting; noxious; as, an offensive smell; offensive
sounds. "Offensive to the stomach." Bacon.
3. Making the first attack; assailant; aggressive; hence, used in attacking; — opposed to defensive; as, an
offensive war; offensive weapons.
League offensive and defensive, a leaque that requires all the parties to it to make war together against
any foe, and to defend one another if attacked.
Syn. — Displeasing; disagreeable; distasteful; obnoxious; abhorrent; disgusting; impertinent; rude; saucy; reproachful; opprobrious; insulting; insolent; abusive; scurrilous; assailant; attacking; invading.
