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Offensive vs Initiative - What's the difference?

offensive | initiative | Synonyms |

As adjectives the difference between offensive and initiative

is that offensive is causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, or hatred while initiative is serving to initiate; inceptive; initiatory; introductory; preliminary.

As nouns the difference between offensive and initiative

is that offensive is an attack while initiative is a beginning; a first move.

offensive

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, or hatred.
  • Relating to an offense or attack, as opposed to defensive.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
  • Having to do with play directed at scoring.

    • Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "offensive" is often applied: content, material, language, word, comment, remark, statement, speech, joke, humor, image, picture, art, behavior, conduct, act, action. * When the second syllable is emphasized, "offensive" is defined as "insulting". When the first syllable is emphasized, it refers to the attacker of a conflict or the team in a sport who possesses the ball.

    Synonyms

    * aggressive * invidious (Intending to cause envious offense)

    Antonyms

    * inoffensive (not causing offense or disgust ) * defensive (relating or causing defence )

    Derived terms

    * offensiveness

    Related terms

    * offend

    Noun

  • (countable, military) An attack.
    • The Marines today launched a major offensive .
  • (uncountable) The posture of attacking or being able to attack.
    • He took the offensive in the press, accusing his opponent of corruption.

    External links

    * * ----

    initiative

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A beginning; a first move.
  • A new development; a fresh approach to something; a new way of dealing with a problem.
  • The ability to act first or on one's own.
  • An issue to be voted on, brought to the ballot by a sufficient number of signatures from among the voting public.

    • Synonyms

    * (issue to be voted on) direct initiative

    Derived terms

    * direct initiative

    Related terms

    * initial * initialism * initialization * initialize * initiate * initiation

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Serving to initiate; inceptive; initiatory; introductory; preliminary.
  • In which voter s can be brought to the ballot.
  • * John G. Matsusaka, "Direct Democracy and the Executive Branch", in, 2008, Shaun Bowler and Amihai Glazer, editors, Direct Democracy's Impact on American Political Institutions , , ISBN 9780230604452, page 122 [http://books.google.com/books?id=J6swcucKdNIC&pg=PA122&dq=initiative]:
    • The second row shows that initiative states fill more constitutional offices by election than noninitiative states, and the difference is statistically significant after controlling for region and population.

    Antonyms

    * noninitiative

    External links

    * * * ----