Offense, Offence, n.
Etymology: [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
1. The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury. Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Rom. iv. 25. I have given my opinion against the authority of two great men, but I hope without offense to their memories. Dryden.
2. The state of being offended or displeased; anger; displeasure. He was content to give them just cause of offense, when they had power to make just revenge. Sir P. Sidney.
3. A cause or occasion of stumbling or of sin. [Obs.] Woe to that man by whom the offense cometh! Matt. xviii. 7.
Note: This word, like expense, is often spelled with a c. It ought, however, to undergo the same change with expense, the reasons being the same, namely, that s must be used in offensive as in expensive, and is found in the Latin offensio, and the French offense. To take offense, to feel, or assume to be, injured or affronted; to become angry or hostile. -- Weapons of offense, those which are used in attack, in distinction from those of defense, which are used to repel.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Displeasure; umbrage; resentment; misdeed; misdemeanor; trespass; transgression; delinquency; fault; sin; crime; affront; indignity; outrage; insult.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for offense; he lists it under abomination, anger, pique, sin.
Where he writes about it:
As applied to crimes, abomination is used of such as are especially brutal, shameful, or revolting; theft is an offense; infanticide is an abomination. — from abomination
Pique, from the French, signifies primarily a prick or a sting, as of a nettle; the word denotes a sudden feeling of mingled pain and anger, but slight and usually transient, arising from some neglect or offense, real or imaginary. — from pique
Sin in the generic sense, as denoting a state of heart, is synonymous with depravity; in the specific sense, as in the expression a sin, the term may be synonymous with transgression, crime, offense, misdeed, etc., or may denote some moral activity that could not be characterized by terms so positive. — from sin