Dictionary

inoffensive en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- English offensive English inoffensive From in- + offensive.

Meanings

1. not offensive
   • On January 7, 1964, a group of American students at Balboa High School in the Panama Canal Zone set into motion events that soon threatened our relations with Panama and endangered operation of the Panama Canal. It was, on the surface, an inoffensive act: The students raised the American flag in front of the school. 1971, Lyndon Johnson, The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 180:
   • an inoffensive joke
   • [S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […] 1765, Catherine Jemmat, The Memoirs of Mrs. Catherine Jemmat, Daughter of the Late Admiral Yeo, of Plymouth. Written by Herself, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Printed for the author, at Charing-Cross, →OCLC, page 145:
2. harmless
   • an inoffensive plant

Forms

Deriveds

inoffensivity · inoffensivism · inoffensiveness · inoffensively

Synonyms

innocuous (all senses)

Translations (28)

gv neuskielleydagh (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · ga neamhurchóideach (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · ja 当たり障りのない (not offensive — see also innocuous) · pt inofensivo (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · pt inofensivo (not offensive — see also innocuous) · ja 無難な (not offensive — see also innocuous) · fi viaton (not offensive — see also innocuous) · uk нешкідли́вий (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · es inofensivo (not offensive — see also innocuous) · it inoffensivo (not offensive — see also innocuous) · it inoffensivo (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · fi harmiton (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · es inofensivo (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · mi māhaki (not offensive — see also innocuous) · ja 無難な (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · fi hyvää tarkoittava (not offensive — see also innocuous) · nrf innoffensif (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · ru необи́дный (not offensive — see also innocuous) · ru безвре́дный (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · ru безоби́дный (not offensive — see also innocuous) · cmn 觸犯人的 /触犯人的 (not offensive — see also innocuous) · uk необра́зливий (not offensive — see also innocuous) · ca inofensiu (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · ca inofensiu (not offensive — see also innocuous) · cmn 無害的 /无害的 (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · nb harmløs (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · fr inoffensif (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous) · ja 当たり障りのない (harmless — see also harmless, innocuous)