offender

English

Alternative forms

• offendor, offendour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English offendour, offender, offendir, equivalent to offend +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ)

Noun

offender (plural offenders)

1. One who gives or causes offense, or does something wrong.
   • 1961 March, Warren Smith, “The problems of train regulation - a study of operation at Trent”, in Trains Illustrated, page 169:

     Almost all down trains are late, however; the empty wagon trains are probably the worst offenders and one or two hours' late running by them is not unusual.

2. A person who commits an offense against the law, a lawbreaker.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:criminal

Derived terms

• habitual offender
• juvenile offender
• main offender
• non-offender
• repeat offender
• sex offender
• status offender
• young offender
• youthful offender

Translations

one who gives or causes offense

• Bulgarian: виновник (bg) m (vinovnik), нарушител (bg) m (narušitel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冒犯者 (màofànzhě)

• Finnish: rikkoja (fi), loukkaaja
• German: Täter (de) m
• Latin: offensor m
• Persian: مقصر (fa) (moqasser), تقصیرکار (taqsirkâr)
• Portuguese: ofensor (pt) m
• Russian: оби́дчик (ru) m (obídčik), оби́дчица (ru) f (obídčica)
• Spanish: ofensor (es) m

a person who commits an offense against the law

• Arabic: جَانٍ (ar) (jānin)
• Belarusian: злачынец m (zlačynjec)
• Bulgarian: престъпник (bg) m (prestǎpnik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 罪犯 (zh) (zuìfàn), 犯罪分子 (fànzuì fènzǐ), 違法者 / 违法者 (wéifǎzhě)

• Czech: zločinec (cs) m
• Dutch: schuldige (nl) m or f
• Finnish: syyllinen (fi)
• French: contrevenant (fr) m
• German: Täter (de) m, Täterin (de) f, Straftäter (de) m, Straftäterin (de) f
• Greek: παραβάτης (el) m (paravátis)
• Hungarian: jogsértő (hu), bűnöző (hu), bűnelkövető (hu)
• Icelandic: lögbrotamaður m
• Indonesian: pelanggar (id)
• Irish: ciontóir m
• Italian: contravventore m, corrigendo (it) m (young)
• Japanese: 罪人 (ja) (ざいにん, zainin), 犯罪者 (ja) (はんざいしゃ, hanzaisha)
• Macedonian: престапник m (prestapnik)
• Manx: foiljagh m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lovbryter m

  Nynorsk: lovbrytar m

• Persian: خاطی (fa) (xâti), قانون‌شکن (qânun-šekan)
• Polish: przestępca (pl) m
• Portuguese: transgressor (pt) m, criminoso (pt) m
• Russian: престу́пник (ru) m (prestúpnik), престу́пница (ru) f (prestúpnica), правонаруши́тель (ru) m (pravonarušítelʹ), правонаруши́тельница (ru) f (pravonarušítelʹnica)
• Scottish Gaelic: ciontach m
• Spanish: delincuente (es) m, ofensor (es) m
• Swedish: gärningsman (sv) m or c, gärningskvinna (sv) f or c (uncommon)
• Telugu: అపరాధి (te) (aparādhi), నేరస్థుడు (te) m (nērasthuḍu)
• Thai: ผู้กระทำผิด
• Ukrainian: правопору́шник (uk) m (pravoporúšnyk), правопору́шниця (uk) f (pravoporúšnycja)
• Welsh: pechadur m

References

• “offender”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• forefend, reoffend