offensive

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈfen.sɪv/; in sport also US /ˈɑː.fen.sɪv/, /ˈʌf.en.sɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French offensif and directly from Medieval Latin offēnsīvus,^[2][3][4] from Latin offēns-, the past participle stem of offendere “to strike against”, the source of offend.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Used in attack, aggressive: 1547–64 in the OED, the 1540s in Etymonline, about 1555 in MWU.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Insulting, causing displeasure is from the 1570s (1576 in the OED),^[2][5] and disagreeable to the senses, as of smells, from the 1590s.^[2][5] The noun, the offensive, the position of attack, is from 1720, after French l'offensive.^[2][5][6] The military sense, a major attack, is by 1918, from the First World War.^[2] In North American sport, relating to the team in possession of the ball, it is from 1912.^[5]

Timeline

• 1547–64 – attacking.^[5]
• 1576 – insulting.^[5]
• 1594 – unpleasant to the senses.^[5]
• 1720 – noun, the offensive.^[2][5]
• 1912 – in sport.^[5]
• 1918 – a military attack.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Likely to make people upset or angry; insulting.
2. Unpleasant to the senses: an offensive smell.
3. Used for attacking: offensive weapons.
4. (sports) Relating to the team that has the ball.

Noun

1. A military attack, or an organized campaign.
2. An attitude of attack: on the offensive.

Word family

• offensively
• offensiveness
• counteroffensive
• overoffensive
• superoffensive
• inoffensive
• nonoffensive
• unoffensive

Related words

• offend
• offense
• offence

Usage notes

Offensive, disgusting, loathsome, repulsive, revolting and vile all mean extremely unpleasant to the senses or feelings, as in an offensive remark or a nasty smell.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin