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What is the difference between offensive and outrage?

offensive | outrage |

As nouns the difference between offensive and outrage

is that offensive is (countable|military) an attack while outrage is an excessively violent or vicious attack; an atrocity.

As a adjective offensive

is causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, or hatred.

As a verb outrage is

to cause or commit an outrage upon; to treat with violence or abuse.

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.

    outrage

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An excessively violent or vicious attack; an atrocity.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=1 citation , passage=“There the cause of death was soon ascertained?; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom. […]”}}
  • An offensive, immoral or indecent act.
  • The resentful anger aroused by such acts.
  • (obsolete) A destructive rampage.
  • "by the outrage and fury of the river " (from an old description of flood damage).

    Verb

    (outrag)
  • To cause or commit an outrage upon; to treat with violence or abuse.
  • * Atterbury
  • Base and insolent minds outrage men when they have hope of doing it without a return.
  • * Broome
  • This interview outrages all decency.
  • (archaic) To violate; to rape (a female).
  • (obsolete) To rage in excess of.
  • (Young)