offensive

1. adjective

1)

offensive remarks

Syn:

insulting, insolent, derogatory, disrespectful, hurtful, wounding, abusive; annoying, exasperating, irritating, galling, provocative, outrageous; rude, impertinent, discourteous, uncivil, impolite; crude, vulgar, coarse, improper, indecent; formal exceptionable

Ant:

complimentary, polite, courteous

2)

an offensive smell

Syn:

unpleasant, disagreeable, nasty, distasteful, displeasing, objectionable, off-putting, awful, terrible, dreadful, frightful, obnoxious, abominable, disgusting, repulsive, repellent, repugnant, revolting, abhorrent, loathsome, detestable, odious, vile, foul, sickening, nauseating; informal ghastly, horrible, horrid, gross, putrid, godawful, beastly; literary noisome, mephitic

Ant:

pleasant, delightful

3)

an offensive air strike

Syn:

hostile, attacking, aggressive, invading, incursive, combative, belligerent, on the attack

Ant:

defensive

2. noun

a military offensive

- take the offensive

Syn:

attack, assault, onslaught, drive, invasion, push, thrust, charge, sortie, sally, foray, raid, incursion, offense, blitz, campaign

••

offensive, abhorrent, abominable, detestable, odious, repugnant

Looking for just the right word to express your dislike, distaste, disgust, or aversion to something? Offensive is a relatively mild adjective, used to describe anyone or anything that is unpleasant or disagreeable (she found his remarks offensive; the offensive sight of garbage piled in the alley). If you want to express strong dislike for someone or something that deserves to be disliked, use detestable (a detestable man who never had a kind word for anyone). If something is so offensive that it provokes a physical as well as a moral or intellectual response, use odious (the odious treatment of women during the war in Bosnia), and if you instinctively draw back from it, use repugnant (the very thought of piercing one's nose was repugnant to her). If your repugnance is extreme, go one step further and use abhorrent (an abhorrent act that could not go unpunished). Persons and things that are truly loathsome or terrifying can be called abominable (an abominable act of desecration; the abominable snowman), although this word is often used as an overstatement to mean "awful" (abominable taste in clothes).