Offending

How to spell offending

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce offending

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does offending mean?

1. adjectiveDescribing the specific thing or party that is causing a problem, displeasure, or a breach of rules.
2. verbPresent participle of offend: actively causing someone to feel hurt, annoyed, or insulted.

Offending in a sentence

• adjective

  The mechanic finally located the offending part and replaced it.

• verb

  She apologised without realising she had been offending anyone.

• adjective

  Moderators removed the offending comment within minutes.

• verb

  The comedian kept offending half the audience with every joke.

Where does offending come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base verb 'offend' comes from the Latin offendere, which literally meant 'to strike against' or 'to knock into', built from ob- meaning 'against' and the verb fendere meaning 'to strike' or 'to hit'. The same fendere root quietly survives in 'defend' (to strike away from) and 'fender', the part of a car that takes the knocks. In Latin the sense moved from a physical collision to a figurative one, that is, to displease, annoy, or cause hurt, and English picked it up through Old French offendre in the 1300s. The participle 'offending' then developed two everyday uses: the active sense of someone giving offence, and the labelling sense of whatever item or party is responsible for a problem. The single f at the start and the doubled consonant inside come straight from that ob- plus fendere join, which is exactly the spot where writers wobble, slipping into 'ofending'.

How the word is built

• of- (variant of ob-, against)
• fend (from Latin fendere, to strike)
• -ing (present participle/adjective suffix)