offensive B1 Topic:War & Conflict US /əˈfɛnsɪv/ See IPA manual Freq #5745 Meanings 1 adj Likely to upset or anger people; rude or insulting. The joke was offensive and several guests walked out. 2 adj Very unpleasant to the senses, especially the smell. An offensive smell came from the old drain. 3 adj Used for attacking rather than defending. The treaty banned the use of offensive weapons. 4 noun A planned military attack. The army launched a major offensive at dawn. Thesaurus Synonyms aggressiveinvidiousunheard-of Word family Forms offensivenessoffensives Derived forms counter-offensivecounteroffensivecyberoffensiveinoffensivenon-offensivenonoffensiveoffensivelyoffensivenessoveroffensivesuperoffensiveunoffensive Related forms offendoffense Common collocations potentially offensive Adverb + adjective Etymology AI details From Middle French offensif, from offendre + -if by analogy with défensif. Offendre is from Latin offendere (“to offend”); see offend. offensif Middle French offendo Latin View etymology graph -> Topics War & Conflict External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # offensive **Type:** Word **Level:** B1 **Part of speech:** adj, noun **IPA (US):** /əˈfɛnsɪv/ **Frequency rank:** 5745 ## Meanings 1. Likely to upset or anger people; rude or insulting. 2. Very unpleasant to the senses, especially the smell. 3. Used for attacking rather than defending. 4. A planned military attack. ## Examples - The joke was offensive and several guests walked out. - An offensive smell came from the old drain. - The treaty banned the use of offensive weapons. - The army launched a major offensive at dawn. ## Synonyms - aggressive - invidious - unheard-of ## Derived Forms - counter-offensive - counteroffensive - cyberoffensive - inoffensive - non-offensive - nonoffensive - offensively - offensiveness - overoffensive - superoffensive - unoffensive ## Related Forms - offend - offense ## Roots and Affixes - Root: offensif - Root: offendo ## Etymology From Middle French offensif, from offendre + -if by analogy with défensif. Offendre is from Latin offendere (“to offend”); see offend. ## AI Etymology Offensive comes from Middle French offensif, from offendre + -if by analogy with défensif. Offendre is from Latin offendere (“to offend”); see offend. The historical chain includes Middle French offensif and Latin offendo. Modern senses include likely to upset or anger people; rude or insulting and very unpleasant to the senses, especially the smell. The wider word family includes derivatives such as counter-offensive, counteroffensive, cyberoffensive, inoffensive, non-offensive, and nonoffensive and related forms such as offend and offense. ## Topics - War & Conflict markdown