give/cause offense

idiom

: to cause a person or group to feel hurt, angry, or upset by something said or done

She didn't mean to give/cause offense.

Examples of give/cause offense in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This interchange is how the brain counters, for instance, the impulse to use rude language with the recognition that such responses can cause offense. —Robert Martone, Scientific American, 26 May 2023

Running shorter than its advertised length, this revival cuts a lot, eliminating even minor details that might cause offense. —New York Times, 10 Feb. 2022

Belafonte worked with Jim Henson on designing the masks that Muppets wore in the scene, evoking African tribal masks without using any patterns that could cause offense with religious or national significance. —Al Shipley, SPIN, 26 Apr. 2023

The rewriting of the author’s books to remove language that might be deemed to cause offense has prompted much criticism and discussion in recent days. —Victoria Murphy, Town & Country, 23 Feb. 2023

While the major powers struck an increasingly bellicose tone against each other during the Asean forum, regional diplomats were careful not to cause offense to either China or the U.S. —Keith Zhai, WSJ, 7 Aug. 2022

First ladies are unelected, appear apolitical and are rarely controversial, prone to taking on universal good causes that are unlikely to cause offense, like Jill Biden’s Joining Forces Initiative to support military families. —Jada Yuan, Washington Post, 23 July 2022

Yes, Okparanta knows the premise might cause offense. —New York Times, 17 July 2022

Srinivasan’s essential counsel—to embrace ambivalence—might seem unlikely to cause offense. —Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2021