as in attacks
the act or action of setting upon with force or violence
the primary offensive by the ground forces will commence at dawn tomorrow
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of offensives
Financiers organized press offensives and enlisted top reporters as allies, offering lucrative jobs or outright bribes.
—
Evan Hughes, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
Chapter narrators alternate between a homing pigeon and a soldier whose futures intersect in the most terrible of war offensives in France.
—The Know, Denver Post, 19 Oct. 2025
Israel’s offensives displaced most of Gaza’s population, forcing more than two million people to run for safety to the shifting patches of land the Israeli military described as humanitarian zones.
—Kara Fox, CNN Money, 19 Oct. 2025
Since October 2023, Israel's ground and air offensives in Gaza have displaced more than 2 million people and killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the AP.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Oct. 2025
Debates have raged in the busy industry program, standby ticket queues have snaked outside venues for the hottest premieres and the stars — in their droves — have been out in force and on major charm offensives, with distributors using the fest to launch both awards and release campaigns.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 17 Oct. 2025
Israel's sustained bombing campaign and relentless ground force offensives have leveled most of Gaza's homes, schools, hospitals and businesses.
—Greg Myre, NPR, 9 Oct. 2025
Glen Powell’s rapid ascent from working actor to movie star constitutes one of Hollywood’s great charm offensives.
—Judy Berman, Time, 26 Sep. 2025
Future offensives by Russia would then become strategically futile, and thus not worth attempting.
—Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Foreign Affairs, 23 Sep. 2025
Evan Hughes, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
Chapter narrators alternate between a homing pigeon and a soldier whose futures intersect in the most terrible of war offensives in France.
—The Know, Denver Post, 19 Oct. 2025
Israel’s offensives displaced most of Gaza’s population, forcing more than two million people to run for safety to the shifting patches of land the Israeli military described as humanitarian zones.
—Kara Fox, CNN Money, 19 Oct. 2025
Since October 2023, Israel's ground and air offensives in Gaza have displaced more than 2 million people and killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the AP.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Oct. 2025
Debates have raged in the busy industry program, standby ticket queues have snaked outside venues for the hottest premieres and the stars — in their droves — have been out in force and on major charm offensives, with distributors using the fest to launch both awards and release campaigns.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 17 Oct. 2025
Israel's sustained bombing campaign and relentless ground force offensives have leveled most of Gaza's homes, schools, hospitals and businesses.
—Greg Myre, NPR, 9 Oct. 2025
Glen Powell’s rapid ascent from working actor to movie star constitutes one of Hollywood’s great charm offensives.
—Judy Berman, Time, 26 Sep. 2025
Future offensives by Russia would then become strategically futile, and thus not worth attempting.
—Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Foreign Affairs, 23 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for offensives
Noun
-
Often, one of the pair is more offensive or box-to-box in their profile, with the other being more of a traditional, defensive-minded midfielder whose strengths are to break up opposition attacks.—
Mark Carey,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Scatological attacks are usually the province of outsiders trying to cut the powerful down to size.—
Michelle Goldberg,
Mercury News,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
There’s a lot of fear in the air – fear of speaking out, fear of being swept up in ICE raids, etc.—
Andre Mouchard,
Oc Register,
26 Oct. 2025
-
There have been splashy workplace raids like the ones that occurred at a Georgia Hyundai plant and a California legal marijuana farm.—
Lauren Villagran,
USA Today,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Ising’s case is among a series of incidents The Star has reported on in recent months in which fire department employees charged with serious crimes — including assaults, a felony drug case and multiple DWIs — were allowed to remain on the job, some for years.—
Judy L. Thomas,
Kansas City Star,
24 Oct. 2025
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Vril and Agartha have thrived in part because of the way the editors mix brainrot and bigotry, disguising their ideological assaults in the fried fog of GifTok rap gibberish.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Both offenses, however, got off to somewhat slow starts.—
Cole Sullivan,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Oct. 2025
-
Court records cited in the FBI affidavit show that Avalos, who was born in 1995, has a history of violent offenses in both Minnesota and Florida.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The city said the suit followed months of attempts to obtain voluntary compliance in response to numerous public records requests for Blain’s messages on private email accounts, text messaging and other applications, which are all subject to disclosure if discussing city business.—
Susan Gill Vardon,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Oct. 2025
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The offense marched down the field drive after drive following those first three failed attempts, taking advantage of short fields presented to them by punt returns and takeaways.—
Jordan McPherson,
Miami Herald,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
There can be 30 minutes of small waves before a sneaker wave strikes.—
Amanda Greenwood,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
-
The primary causes of death and injury for these right whales are entanglement in fishing gear and vessel strikes, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.—
Lex Goldstein,
PEOPLE,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Offensives.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/offensives. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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