Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Giving no offense; unobjectionable.
- adjective Causing no harm; harmless.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not offensive; giving no offense; doing no harm; not causing disturbance or uneasiness; free from anything of a displeasing or disturbing nature: as, an inoffensive animal; inoffensive remarks.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Giving no offense, or provocation; causing no uneasiness, annoyance, or disturbance.
- adjective Harmless; doing no injury or mischief.
- adjective rare Not obstructing; presenting no interruption or hindrance.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective not
offensive - adjective
harmless
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective giving no offense
- adjective not causing anger or annoyance
- adjective substituting a mild term for a harsher or distasteful one
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The gentleman pleaded for himself, that "in truth" was a word inoffensive, even in his judgment who accused him.
Good Thoughts in Bad Times and Other Papers. 1608-1661 1863
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If the author convenes religious beliefs in inoffensive and unobtrusive manner (King did this in “The Stand” and it was perfectly digestible) or turn it in a underlying message, that's perfectly fine with me - but don’t drop it fervently right on top of my head.
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If the author convenes religious beliefs in inoffensive and unobtrusive manner (King did this in “The Stand” and it was perfectly digestible) or turn it in a underlying message, that's perfectly fine with me - but don’t drop it fervently right on top of my head.
Archive 2008-09-01 2008
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If you were being polite you'd call it inoffensive.
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Whereas the Caingwas may be described as inoffensive Indians, the inhabitants of the Chaco are _savages_, hostile to the white man, who only here and there, with their permission, has settled on the river bank.
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America G. Whitfield Ray
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The rules of the Petrolia Oil Exchange provide that refined kerosene shall be of the odor "locally known as inoffensive," and shall
Scientific American Supplement, No. 611, September 17, 1887 Various
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Keene was at no loss to recall inoffensive phrases; in another long speech, full of cajolery sufficiently artful for the occasion, he represented himself as having merely protested against misrepresentations obviously sharpened by malice.
Demos George Gissing 1880
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Who was she, the old witch, for so he mentally termed the inoffensive woman devoutly conning her prayer book, unconscious of the wrath her presence was exciting in the bosom of the young man beside her!
Bad Hugh Mary Jane Holmes 1866
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It's funny that to get anything done in the Puget Sound, you have to exhibit these schizophrenic qualities so as to have a broad and "inoffensive" appeal.
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He's spent his political career as a relatively inoffensive which is saying something in Illinois glorified accountant.
"This is all politics and theater, but I am the junior senator according to every law book in the nation." Ann Althouse 2009
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