offensive
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- insulting, abusive, discourteous, disrespectful, impertinent, insolent, objectionable, rude
- disagreeable, disgusting, nauseating, obnoxious, odious, repellent, revolting, unpleasant, vile
- aggressive, attacking, invading
[noun]
Synonyms:
- attack, campaign, drive, onslaught, push (informal)

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Antonyms: inoffensive, unoffensive
Contrasted words: agreeable, appealing, attractive, pleasant, pleasing, favorable, unobjectionable, welcome, appetizing, palatable, savory, divine
Related Words: abhorrent, bad, disagreeable, objectionable, uncongenial, unpleasant, abominable, detestable, fulsome, odious, rank, appalling, awful, beastly, dreadful, frightful, ghastly, grim, grisly, gruesome, lurid, shocking, terrible, unappetizing, unpalatable, unsavory

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English Thesaurus: rude, impolite/not polite, cheeky, tactless, offensive, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. of‧fen‧sive¹ /əˈfensɪv/ adjective
[Word Family: noun: OFFENSE/OFFENSE, offender, offensive, offensiveness; adjective: offensive ≠ inoffensive, offended, offending; verb: offend; adverb: offensively]

1. very rude or insulting and likely to upset people Antonym : inoffensive:
I found her remarks deeply offensive.
offensive to
crude jokes that are offensive to women
offensive behaviour

2. formal very unpleasant:
an offensive smell

3. [only before noun] for attacking ⇒ defensive¹(1):
Jan was convicted of possessing an offensive weapon.
The troops took up offensive positions.

4. American English relating to getting points and winning a game, rather than stopping the other team from getting points Antonym : defensive:
the Jets’ offensive strategy
—offensively adverb:
Rick’s remarks were offensively racist.
—offensiveness noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. offensive² noun [countable]
[Word Family: noun: OFFENSE/OFFENSE, offender, offensive, offensiveness; adjective: offensive ≠ inoffensive, offended, offending; verb: offend; adverb: offensively]

1. a planned military attack involving large forces over a long period:
a military offensive
A major offensive was launched on August 22.

2. go on the offensive (also take the offensive) to start attacking or criticizing someone before they start attacking or criticizing you:
Republicans went on the offensive over soaring gasoline prices.
The international coalition was ready to take the offensive.

3. charm/diplomatic offensive a planned set of actions intended to influence a lot of people

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

offensive
adj.
VERBS appear, be, seem | become | consider sth, deem sth, find sth, think sth He's always making rude remarks about women. I find that deeply offensive.
ADV. deeply, downright, extremely, grossly, highly, very | quite, rather | deliberately
PREP. to This sort of attitude is very offensive to black people.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

offensive
noun
ADJ. all-out, full-scale, major | army, guerrilla, military, terrorist | air, bombing | ground | diplomatic, government
VERB + OFFENSIVE launch, mount | be on, go on, take She took the offensive, challenging her critics to prove their allegations.
PREP. ~ against The government is launching an all-out offensive against the drug cartels

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

rude not following the rules of good social behaviour or treating other people with a lack of respect:
It’s rude to interrupt.
He’s the rudest man I’ve ever met.
rude remarks about her stomach
impolite/not polite not following the rules of good social behaviour. Impolite sounds rather formal:
It is impolite to stare.
It’s not polite to talk with your mouth full of food.
cheeky British English, smart/sassy American English behaving in a way that is a little rude, especially when this is amusing or annoying – used especially about children:
a cheeky grin
Let go, you cheeky monkey (=cheeky child)!
Don’t get smart with me!
tactless saying things that are likely to upset or embarrass someone, without intending to:
a tactless remark
How could you be so tactless?
offensive speaking or behaving in a way that is likely to upset or offend someone:
His remarks are offensive to African-Americans.
offensive language
insulting speaking or behaving in a way that is very rude and offensive to someone:
comments that are insulting to women
The article was full of insulting language.
discourteous /dɪsˈkɜːtiəs $ -ɜːr-/ formal rather rude. Discourteous sounds very formal and is often used when talking about being careful not to upset someone’s feelings:
He did not wish to appear discourteous towards his host.
It would seem discourteous to refuse her offer.
ill-mannered (also bad-mannered) especially written behaving in a rude way, especially because you have never been taught how to behave politely:
Ill-mannered movie-goers talked throughout the entire picture.
It was very bad-mannered.
disrespectful not showing the proper respect for someone or something:
I felt her comments were disrespectful to all the people who have worked so hard on this project.
impertinent formal not showing a proper respect for someone, especially by asking or talking about subjects that you do not have a right to know about:
an impertinent question about his private life
an impertinent young man
Would it be impertinent to ask how old you are?
insolent formal behaving in a way that is deliberately very rude to someone in authority:
The girl’s only response was an insolent stare.
Don’t be so insolent!
impudent formal rude, and having no respect for people who are older or more important:
The boy gave an impudent smile.
irreverent showing a lack of respect for someone or something who people are supposed to respect – used especially about comedy programmes and newspaper articles:
an irreverent look at the week’s events
his irreverent sense of humour

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲