offense

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of causing anger, resentment, displeasure, or affront.
2. n. The state of being offended.
3. n. A violation or infraction of a moral or social code; a transgression or sin.
4. n. A transgression of law; a crime.
5. n. Something that outrages moral sensibilities: Genocide is an offense to all civilized humans.
6. n. The act of attacking or assaulting.
7. n. Sports The means or tactics used in attempting to score.
8. n. Sports A team in possession of the ball or puck, or those players whose primary duty is to attempt to score.
9. n. Sports Scoring ability or potential.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Assault; attack: as, weapons or arms of offense.
2. n. Harm; hurt; injury.
3. n. Transgression; sin; fault; wrong.
4. n. Specifically, in law: A crime or misdemeanor; a transgression of law. It implies a violation of law for which the public authorities may prosecute, not merely one which gives rise to a private cause of action only. More specifically
5. n. A misdemeanor or transgression of the law which is not indictable, but is punishable summarily or by the forfeiture of a penalty.
6. n. Affront; insult; injustice; wrong; that which wounds the feelings and causes displeasure or resentment.
7. n. Displeasure; annoyance; mortification; umbrage; anger.
8. n. See the adjectives.
9. n. Synonyms Misdeed, fault, delinquency, indignity, trespass. Referring to the comparison under crime, it may be added that offense is a very indefinite word, covering the whole range of the others, while misdemeanor is a specific word, applying to an act which is cognizable by civil, school, family, or other authority, and does not appear in the aspect of an offense against anything but law or rules.
10. n. Indignation, resentment.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of offending; a crime or sin; an affront or injury.
2. n. The state of being offended or displeased; anger; displeasure.
3. n. team sports (often IPA: /ˈɒ fɛns/) A strategy and tactics employed when in position to score; contrasted with defense.
4. n. team sports (often IPA: /ˈɒ fɛns/) The portion of a team dedicated to scoring when in position to do so; contrasted with defense.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury.
2. n. The state of being offended or displeased; anger; displeasure.
3. n. obsolete A cause or occasion of stumbling or of sin.
4. n. In any contest, the act or process of attacking as contrasted with the act of defending; the offensive.
5. n. (Sports) The members of a team who have the primary responsibility to score goals, in contrast to those who have the responsibility to defend, i.e. to prevent the opposing team from scoring goal.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a lack of politeness; a failure to show regard for others; wounding the feelings or others
2. n. the team that has the ball (or puck) and is trying to score
3. n. the action of attacking an enemy
4. n. a feeling of anger caused by being offended
5. n. (criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act