offense.

An act that breaks a rule or law, or one that causes hurt or resentment.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• criminal offense
• take offense

On the page

The court treated the act as a minor offense.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Countable or uncountable by context; countable singular offense; plural offenses. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.