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Offensive   /əfˈɛnsɪv/   Listen
adjective
Offensive  adj.  
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."
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.
Synonyms: Displeasing; disagreeable; distasteful; obnoxious; abhorrent; disgusting; impertinent; rude; saucy; reproachful; opprobrious; insulting; insolent; abusive; scurrilous; assailant; attacking; invading.



noun
Offensive  n.  The state or posture of one who offends or makes attack; aggressive attitude; the act of the attacking party; opposed to defensive.
To take the offensive, To act on the offensive, To go on the offensive, to be the attacking party; to initiate hostilities.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Offensive" Quotes from Famous Books



... and think over what I said by yourself," continued Archie, "whether it's reasonable, or whether it's really offensive or not; and let's meet at dinner as though nothing had happened, I'll put it this way, if you like - that I know my own character, that I'm looking forward (with great pleasure, I assure you) to a long visit from you, and that I'm taking precautions at the first. I see the thing that we ...
— Weir of Hermiston • Robert Louis Stevenson

... them. His spiritlessness served to inspire the chaffinch with greater boldness, and then it appeared that the gay little creature was really and truly incensed, possibly because the rusty, draggled, and listless appearance of the larger bird was offensive to him. Anyhow, the persecutions continued, increasing in fury until they could not be borne, and the blackbird tried to escape by hiding in the bramble. But he was not permitted to rest there; out he was soon driven and away into another bush, and again into still ...
— Afoot in England • W.H. Hudson

... remarks a bystander, "looks to want a day out at grass for them calves." Or, "'Ere, I say, 'e's eat a bit of beef in his day, I know," as the heavy man comes in sight. It is a good-humoured crowd, and if the strong tobacco is a bit offensive when one's not allowed to smoke oneself, things can't be always as we should like them ...
— The Idler Magazine, Volume III, March 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... secretions and subsequent infection, these conditions may be associated with a persistent offensive discharge, and they are liable to be mistaken for ano-rectal fistulae. They are best dealt with by complete excision, and as primary union cannot be expected, the wound should be treated by the ...
— Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities--Head--Neck. Sixth Edition. • Alexander Miles

... terror of the Crown sheltered the Oxford Jews from any burst of popular vengeance. The sentence of the king condemned them to set up a cross of marble on the spot where the crime was committed, but even this sentence was in part remitted, and a less offensive place was found for the cross in an open plot ...
— History of the English People, Volume II (of 8) - The Charter, 1216-1307; The Parliament, 1307-1400 • John Richard Green


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