(n.) A figure in which a harts or indelicate word or expression is softened; a way of describing an offensive thing by an inoffensive expression; a mild name for something disagreeable.
Example Sentences:
(1) 9.41pm BST Dodgers 0 - Cardinals 0, bottom of the 2nd The "demeaning euphemism for overweight" Matt Adams lines out to Adrian Gonzalez for the second out of the inning.
(2) General Bantz Craddock, who instituted the restraint chair and twice-daily intubation in 2006 , said that he designed it to make hunger-striking less " convenient " – a not terribly subtle euphemism for more painful – and that "pretty soon [after these practices were introduced]…they decided it wasn’t worth it."
(3) To avoid discussing the hunger strike and its rationale, they introduced a euphemism when asked about it: “long-term non-religious fasting”.
(4) I liked working there in the "people department" (a new euphemism for the women's section in the age of feminism), since it offered handy distractions from the horror of the blank page.
(5) Craving boldness is too often a euphemism for wishing Labour's predicament were something other than what it is; that there was a way to promise immediate improvement in everyone's lives without giving them money.
(6) She's both a "certain type of woman" (divorced single mothers must only be referred to in euphemism) and an object of desire.
(7) On Tuesday Khamenei used the expression "heroic leniency", which is being interpreted as a euphemism for a softer stance on foreign policy.
(8) And they gave us the word “euphemism” in the first place – “to use a favourable word in place of an inauspicious one”.
(9) In fact, the word 'torture' does not appear anywhere, nor even the preferred diplomatic euphemism, 'ill-treatment'.
(10) There were euphemisms (“an incident”, “an inappropriate action on my part”); there were vague and reassuring references to the woman (“she has accepted my apology”); and there were mind-your-own-business obfuscations (“a deeply personal business”).
(11) Political rhetoric now as in Orwell's day exploits not only euphemism ("austerity") but dysphemism ("skivers") and loaded metaphor ("fiscal cliff"): in our time, weaponised soundbites are deliberately engineered to smuggle the greatest amount of persuasion into the smallest space, to be virally replicated on rolling news.
(12) There is a serious risk that, sooner rather than later, “self-employment” will simply be a euphemism for regular work in which the employee is unprotected by minimum-wage legislation or any other workplace entitlements.
(13) The NSC will also be put in charge of a £1.3bn prosperity fund that will focus on issues like “improving the business climate” – a term too often used as a euphemism for the promotion of ideologically-driven policies like the privatisation of public services .
(14) Labelling Matters , a campaign set up by Compassion in World Farming and the RSPCA among others, is calling for labels that discard euphemisms in favour, for instance, of “intensive indoor” for pork from pigs that never go outside and “permanently housed” for dairy cows that never graze in fields.
(15) According to state media, Ji Jianye is being investigated for "severe violations of discipline and law" – a euphemism for embezzlement, bribery and other official abuses.
(16) But what this kind of legislation would do is promote “information-sharing” – a euphemism for cutting a giant hole in our privacy laws that allow companies like Sony or 20th Century Fox (or Google or Facebook) to hand over all sorts of our personal information to the government with no legal process whatsoever.
(17) Work was a widely used euphemism for killing during the genocide.
(18) "Dressing for pleasure" and "fun fashion" get a bad rap, especially for women in their middle age, as it is generally assumed that this is a euphemism for women dressing like clowns and not realising that, at their age (huff, huff), they should be wearing beige cashmere.
(19) Records of military and congressional investigations into the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre illustrate that "scalping" and other terms were euphemisms for Colorado Volunteers mutilating Cheyenne people and wearing and displaying genitalia, fetuses, and other "battle trophies".
(20) Apart from using the words "organic" as a euphemism for "traditional", his ideas seem to have matured little in the 25 years.
(a.) Giving pain or unpleasant sensations; disagreeable; revolting; noxious; as, an offensive smell; offensive sounds.
(a.) Making the first attack; assailant; aggressive; hence, used in attacking; -- opposed to defensive; as, an offensive war; offensive weapons.
(n.) The state or posture of one who offends or makes attack; aggressive attitude; the act of the attacking party; -- opposed to defensive.
Example Sentences:
(1) The strike, which Central Command said destroyed the Isis fighting position, follows Barack Obama's vow in his televised speech on Wednesday to go on the offensive against Isis more broadly in Iraq and, soon, Syria.
(2) New offensive coach Tony Sparano was also a fan of Wildcat packages when he was head coach in Miami.
(3) We all do different things.” She was front and centre at Ashley’s side in footage shot last week by Sky News cameramen, who were also part of the “selected media” entourage invited to Shirebrook to launch the group’s charm offensive.
(4) Such extravagant claims will be familiar to the scheme's architect, Richard Rogers, whose designs for the office development beside St Paul's Cathedral in the 1980s were torpedoed when Charles implied in a public speech that the plans were more offensive than the rubble left by the Luftwaffe during the blitz.
(5) The central hypothesis of our study, then, was that psychotic men, charged with misdemeanor offenses, would be incarcerated for significantly longer periods of time, prior to trial, than their nonpsychotic fellows.
(6) It's not that Thompson isn't a a very good player – he and Steph Curry have been running one of the most potent offensives in the NBA over the last two years or so and he's obviously a much better defensive player than Love.
(7) It’s no good me swearing on a Bible; I don’t share your faith.” Morrison said: “I will do it, Ray, but I think it’s a very offensive thing for you to ask me to do but I’ll do it if that’s what you require...if you insist I will.” Hadley did not persist with the demand.
(8) The mean number of different types of drugs "ever used" was 5.87, and the mean number of drug sale offenses was 4.4.
(9) 18) Dallas Cowboys Last season: 8-8 Needs: Offensive line, safety, defensive tackle, running back Pick: Kenny Vaccaro, safety, Texas Tony Romo often carries the can for the Cowboys' offensive calamities, but the truth is that not many quarterbacks look great when they are running for their lives.
(10) 3.46am BST Here's the instant response from Ewen MacAskill , at the scene of the debate-crime: Barack Obama staged a strong comeback in his second showdown with Mitt Romney, with the president describing his Republican opponent as "offensive" in suggesting he was playing politics over Benghazi and portraying him as more extreme than George W Bush on social issues such as women's rights.
(11) Speaking in Washington on Thursday, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, said the offensive underscored the growing threat posed by Isis militants – whom he referred to using the group’s Arabic acronym “Daesh”.
(12) Kurdish peshmerga forces backed by the US-led coalition have launched attacks on Islamic State east of Mosul as the campaign to oust the militants stepped up with three offensives across Iraq and Syria.
(13) Partners to the drug-treated mice showed a decrease in the occurrence of offensive ambivalence and of the element "rattle".
(14) UN envoy Staffan De Mistura halted the latest Syria talks on 3 February, because of major differences between the two sides, exacerbated by increased aerial bombings and a wide military offensive by Syrian troops and their allies under the cover of Russian airstrikes.
(15) Top Gear presenter Clarkson, who has been repeatedly criticised for making offensive comments, had condemned Sky for the decision, describing it as "heresy by thought".
(16) The unremitting assault on Aleppo by Russian and Syrian forces over recent days is certainly testament to that.” In a week of what residents have described as the worst airstrike campaign since the start of the civil war in Syria , forces loyal to Assad have begun the early stages of a ground offensive aimed at reclaiming eastern Aleppo, which has been under opposition control since 2012.
(17) However, the growing offensive against the left by the pro-capitalist wing of the Labour party inevitably had a damaging impact on the LPYS.
(18) In April 2009, he launched the first concerted offensive against the extremists, routing them in the Swat valley in the north-west, before starting the continuing operations in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal area, which runs along the Afghan border.
(19) The so-called “709 crackdown” has alarmed activists and foreign observers who view the offensive as part of a broader bid to consolidate political control by an increasingly authoritarian leadership.
(20) Since the beginning of December, MNLA leaders have been broadcasting their plans to start an offensive, led by the head of the movement's military wing, Colonel Mohamed Ag Najim.