Definition of "offend"

offend

/əˈfɛnd/

verb
third-person singular simple present offends, present participle offending, simple past and past participle offended
1. (transitive) To hurt the feelings of; to displease; to make angry; to insult.
  Quotations
  ‘ […] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. We nearly crowned her we were so offended. She saw us but she didn't know us, did she?’.
  1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess‎
  One day my girlfriend, her boyfriend and I were sunbathing topless because that's Barbados - you can wear nothing if you want. And the Pepsi guy walks up and with my agent to meet us for lunch. I wondered if I should put on my top because I have a business relationship with him. I didn't want him to get offended because the rest of the beach had seen me with my top off.
  1995 September, “The Playboy Interview: Cindy Crawford”, in Playboy
2. (intransitive) To feel or become offended; to take insult.
3. (transitive) To physically harm, pain.
  Quotations
  Som fowles there be that have so perfaict ſightAgayn the Sonne their Iyes for to defendAnd ſom bicauſe the light doeth theim offendDo never pere but in the darke or nyght
  c. 1527–1542, Thomas Wyatt, “Som fowles there be that have so perfaict ſight”, in Egerton MS 2711‎, page 19v
4. (transitive) To annoy, cause discomfort or resent.
5. (intransitive) To sin, transgress divine law or moral rules.
  Quotations
  I dailie and hourelie offend in thought, word, and deed, in a relapſe by mine owne weakneſſe and wilfulneſſe, my bonus Genius, my good protecting angel is gone, I am falne from that I was, or would bee, worſe and worſe, […]
  1638, Democritus Junior for Henry Cripps, partition 3, section 4, member 3, subsection 6, page 707
6. (transitive) To transgress or violate a law or moral requirement.
7. (obsolete, transitive, archaic, biblical) To cause to stumble; to cause to sin or to fall.
  Quotations
  "If any man offend not (stumbles not, is not tripped up) in word, the same is a perfect man."
  1896, Adolphus Frederick Schauffler, Select Notes on the International Sunday School Lessons, W. A. Wilde company, page 161
  "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out."Sermon on the Mount
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Matthew 5:29

Definition of "offend"

offend

verb

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