| / English Dictionary |
OFFENDING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Offending against or breaking a law or rule
Example:
contracts offending against the statute were canceled
Classified under:
Similar:
sinning (transgressing a moral or divine law)
offensive; violative (violating or tending to violate or offend against)
Antonym:
unoffending (not offending)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb offend
Context examples:
These offending features gave character to her whole face, but she never could see it, and consoled herself with her wonderfully fair complexion, keen blue eyes, and curls more golden and abundant than ever.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
During the course of these troubles, the emperors of Blefusca did frequently expostulate by their ambassadors, accusing us of making a schism in religion, by offending against a fundamental doctrine of our great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth chapter of the Blundecral (which is their Alcoran).
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Emma felt the bad taste of her friend, but let it pass with a very true; and it would be a small consolation to her, for the clownish manner which might be offending her every hour of the day, to know that her husband could write a good letter.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
James and Isabella led the way; and so well satisfied was the latter with her lot, so contentedly was she endeavouring to ensure a pleasant walk to him who brought the double recommendation of being her brother's friend, and her friend's brother, so pure and uncoquettish were her feelings, that, though they overtook and passed the two offending young men in Milsom Street, she was so far from seeking to attract their notice, that she looked back at them only three times.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
The preacher who can touch and affect such an heterogeneous mass of hearers, on subjects limited, and long worn threadbare in all common hands; who can say anything new or striking, anything that rouses the attention without offending the taste, or wearing out the feelings of his hearers, is a man whom one could not, in his public capacity, honour enough.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Personally, he was an intellectual moralist, and more offending to him than platitudinous pomposity was the morality of those about him, which was a curious hotchpotch of the economic, the metaphysical, the sentimental, and the imitative.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
“Yes, sir,” was the meek reply, as the offending head disappeared into the galley.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
He had just parted from my sister, had seen her leave him in the greatest affliction; and if he felt obliged, from a fear of offending Mrs. Smith, to resist the temptation of returning here soon, and yet aware that by declining your invitation, by saying that he was going away for some time, he should seem to act an ungenerous, a suspicious part by our family, he might well be embarrassed and disturbed.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
I had perception enough to know that my mother was the victim always; that she was afraid to speak to me or to be kind to me, lest she should give them some offence by her manner of doing so, and receive a lecture afterwards; that she was not only ceaselessly afraid of her own offending, but of my offending, and uneasily watched their looks if I only moved.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I might as well inquire, replied she, why with so evident a desire of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character?
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
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