# offence

Pronunciation: say "uh-FENS" /əˈfɛns/

## Noun

1. An illegal act, or a wrongdoing that breaks religious or moral law.
   - Simple: Something a person does that breaks the law or a religious or moral rule.
   - _He was banned from driving after a string of motoring offences._
   - _The preacher spoke of pride as the gravest offence against God._
2. Something said or done that insults, slights or wrongs a person or group.
   - Simple: Something said or done that is rude or unfair and hurts someone's feelings.
   - _Many locals saw the closure of the village school as an offence to the whole community._
   - _She never forgave the offence of being left off the wedding guest list._
3. A feeling of displeasure or anger, often at something taken as an insult or a slight.
   - Simple: An upset or angry feeling, often because you think someone has been rude to you.
   - _She took offence at his comments about her cooking._
   - _Several members took offence at the chairman's remarks and walked out of the meeting before the vote._
4. A team's plan and style of play when it is in a position to score, as opposed to its play in defence. *(US, Canada)*
   - Simple: The way a team plays when it is trying to score, not when it is trying to stop the other team.
   - _In the second half the Bears finally found some rhythm on offence._
   - _The new coach brought in an offence built around short, quick passes._

## Origin

The Middle English form was already offence. It came from Old French offense, which goes back to Latin offensa, a word meaning “a striking against”, “displeasure” or “injury”.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/offence (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).