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Offensive vs Lewd - What's the difference?

offensive | lewd |

As a noun offensive

is offensive (posture of attacking or being able to attack).

As an adjective lewd is

lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.

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

    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.

    lewd

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.
  • * 2014 August 11, , " Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63 in Suspected Suicide," New York Times
  • Onstage he was known for ricochet riffs on politics, social issues and cultural matters both high and low; tales of drug and alcohol abuse; lewd commentaries on relations between the sexes; and lightning-like improvisations on anything an audience member might toss at him.
  • (obsolete) Lay; not clerical.
  • * Sir J. Davies
  • So these great clerks their little wisdom show / To mock the lewd , as learn'd in this as they.
  • (obsolete) Uneducated.
  • (obsolete) Vulgar, common; typical of the lower orders.
  • * Bible, Acts xvii. 5.
  • But the Jews, which believed not, and assaulted the house of Jason.
  • * Southey
  • Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief.
  • (obsolete) Base, vile, reprehensible.
  • Anagrams

    * (l), (l)