take the offensive

phrase

: to begin to attack or fight against someone or something

Opponents of the development project took the offensive and defeated the land sale.

Examples of take the offensive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Let’s take the offensive room first. — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 31 Jan. 2026

Briles left Fort Worth to take the offensive coordinator job at South Carolina, a move that was formally announced by the Gamecocks on Thursday. — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 Dec. 2025

Roughly a month after Nelson committed, Hamdan left to take the offensive coordinator job at Kentucky. — Sam Khan Jr, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2025

McBride helped take the offensive pressure off Randle’s shoulders with yet another blistering shooting night from downtown. — Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 13 June 2024

Businesses need to take the offensive as well to rise to the challenge and ensure their most sensitive information is safe. — Anudeep Parhar, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024

The United States has also sought to deter adversaries by threatening to take the offensive and carry out retaliatory cyberattacks. — Dmitri Alperovitch, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2021

Rhymes for take the offensive

• antihypertensive
• apprehensive
• coextensive
• comprehensive
• hypertensive
• hypotensive
• inexpensive
• inoffensive
• normotensive
• counteroffensive
• defensive
• expensive