inoffensive
English
Etymology
From in- + offensive.
Adjective
inoffensive (comparative more inoffensive, superlative most inoffensive)
- not offensive
- an inoffensive joke
- 1765, Catherine Jemmat, The Memoirs of Mrs. Catherine Jemmat, Daughter of the Late Admiral Yeo, of Plymouth. Written by Herself, volume I, 2nd edition, London: Printed for the author, at Charing-Cross, OCLC 316667080, page 145:
- [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; […]
- 1971, Johnson, Lyndon, The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, LCCN 74-102146, OCLC 1067880747, page 180:
- 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.
- harmless
- an inoffensive plant
Synonyms
- (all senses): innocuous
Derived terms
- inoffensively
- inoffensiveness
- inoffensivism
- inoffensivity
Translations
not offensive — See also translations at innocuous
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harmless — See also translations at harmless, innocuous
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French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Adjective
inoffensive
- feminine singular of inoffensif
Italian
Adjective
inoffensive
- feminine plural of inoffensivo