as in harmless
not causing or being capable of causing injury or hurt
an inoffensive little joke at the opening of his speech
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Recent Examples of inoffensive
An inoffensive, technically impressive spectacle that's kinda a snooze fest.
—
Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Saturday Night Live host Matt Damon was cast as the adoring husband in Mom, an entirely inoffensive movie where nothing bad happens—something that mothers everywhere will enjoy.
—William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2026
Matter of fact, none of his trademark charisma or humor can be found on the entire album, which seems like a complete misunderstanding of the genre as self-serious and inoffensive.
—Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 17 Mar. 2026
DeBrusk is the definition of a top-six guy and his top comps — Reilly Smith, Tyler Toffoli, Jason Zucker — speak to his inoffensive archetype.
—Dom Luszczyszyn, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inoffensive
Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Saturday Night Live host Matt Damon was cast as the adoring husband in Mom, an entirely inoffensive movie where nothing bad happens—something that mothers everywhere will enjoy.
—William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2026
Matter of fact, none of his trademark charisma or humor can be found on the entire album, which seems like a complete misunderstanding of the genre as self-serious and inoffensive.
—Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 17 Mar. 2026
DeBrusk is the definition of a top-six guy and his top comps — Reilly Smith, Tyler Toffoli, Jason Zucker — speak to his inoffensive archetype.
—Dom Luszczyszyn, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inoffensive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inoffensive
Adjective
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Acknowledging its decision to err on the side of caution, Anthropic said Fable 5’s safety-first approach might incorrectly flag harmless requests as being suspicious for less than 5% of queries.—
Jared Perlo,
NBC news,
11 June 2026
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What felt like harmless office culture back then has evolved into a much broader shift in how people approach work.—
Aytekin Tank,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
Adjective
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Many spreading this story are doing so with little or no evidence of wrongdoing and are instead relying on information that is false or can be explained by more benign reasons.—
Andrew Khouri,
Los Angeles Times,
12 June 2026
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That something so benign could wreak so much havoc against the backdrop of a place as humdrum as a corner restaurant is what makes the story (written by TZ mainstay Richard Matheson) so terrifying.—
Josh Weiss,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
Adjective
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If the sky becomes menacing and thunder becomes audible, seek out a safe place to seek shelter.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
12 June 2026
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Topics include financial literacy and legal business structures to recipe development and safe food handling.—
Sean Timberlake,
Sacbee.com,
12 June 2026
Adjective
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Why kill an innocent man for crossing an arbitrary line in the sand?—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
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Three people are dead and she, a completely innocent party in this whole mess, is left holding the check.—
Josh Weiss,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Inoffensive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inoffensive. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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