Offenses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Transgressions that breach legal regulations or ethical codes are actions that cause harm or distress, impacting individuals or the broader community
2. Acts that break legal rules or regulations ; actions that cause emotional or physical harm to others
3. Breaches of laws or established norms ; behaviors that insult or negatively affect someone's feelings or dignity

Etymology: "Offenses" is the plural of "offense," so its history is that of the singular noun. The noun came into Middle English as "offence," borrowed from Old French "offense," which in turn came from Latin "offensa." The Latin word meant a striking against something, and by extension displeasure or injury. That physical sense of collision survives in the idea of an offense as something that strikes against a rule or a person. The Latin base is "offendere," meaning to strike against or stumble upon, built from "ob" (against) and "fendere" (to strike). The image of tripping over an obstacle lies behind both the legal sense of breaking a rule and the emotional sense of wounding someone's feelings. Both meanings grow from the same act of running into something that stands in the way.

Synonyms: crimes, transgressions, violations, misdeeds

Antonyms: innocence, exoneration