Synonyms for offense
- noun
- American English
Most common
crime trespass transgression misdeed slight provocation dudgeon discourtesy
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Misdemeanor — the act of offending. A crime or sin
misdemeanor US, misdemeanour UK, crime, wrong, transgression, sin, misdeed, error, delinquency, injury, trespass, fault, outrage, guilt, malfeasance, tort, iniquity, delict, peccadillo, malefaction, unlawfulness, misdoing
2. Insult — the act of offending. An affront, injury, or insult
insult, affront, put-down, provocation, slight, indignity, dis slang
3. Umbrage — the state of being offended or displeased; anger; displeasure
4. Offensive
Other
Definitions
- n. 1
The act of offending. A crime or sin.
- n. 2
The act of offending. An affront, injury, or insult.
- n. 3
The state of being offended or displeased; anger; displeasure.
- n. 4
A strategy and tactics employed when in position to score; contrasted with defense.
Related words
- Word family
- offenseless offensive offend offender
- Phrases
- take offense criminal offense
- Other spellings
- offence UK
Forms
- Plural
- offenses → misdemeanors, crimes, wrongs, transgressions…
Choose the right word
As applied to crimes, abomination is used of such as are especially brutal, shameful, or revolting; theft is an offense; infanticide is an abomination.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- crime In Singapore, it is a crime to spit on the ground.
- trespass It was foolish of him to trespass against the law.
- transgression Plagiarism is a serious transgression of academic ethics.
- slight Tom suffered just a slight injury in the accident.
- provocation She lost her temper at the slightest provocation.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| offense | steady | |
| crime | rising | |
| trespass | falling | |
| transgression | rising | |
| misdeed | rising | |
| slight | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- sin1, dis1
- 4 letters
- tort1, miff
- 5 letters
- wrong1, crime1, fault1, error2, guilt1, pique1
- 6 letters
- injury3, slight1, insult2, delict
- 7 letters
- assault2, outrage2, affront2, umbrage2, dudgeon2, misdeed2
- 8 letters
- nuisance2, trespass2, iniquity4, misdoing
- 9 letters
- offensive3, complaint2, indignity4
- 10 letters
- aggression3, resentment3, peccadillo
- 11 letters
- misdemeanor4, provocation4, delinquency4, malfeasance3, discourtesy, malefaction
- 12 letters
- misdemeanour, unlawfulness, offendedness
- 13 letters
- transgression3
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (error2 = 2 syllables).