Offendere

Offendere is an Italian verb meaning to offend, insult, or wound someone’s feelings. The primary use is relational and emotional: to hurt someone’s sensibilities or to insult them. In extended use, it can also mean to offend moral, social, or legal norms, or to violate someone’s rights or boundaries. Reflexive forms such as “si offende” describe getting offended or taking offense.

In Italian, offendere is a regular -ere verb with standard conjugation patterns. Present tense forms are: io offendo, tu offendi, lui/lei offende, noi offendiamo, voi offendete, loro offendono. Imperfect: offendevo, offendevi, offendeva, offendavamo, offendevate, offendevano. Passato prossimo uses avere: ho offeso, hai offeso, ha offeso, abbiamo offeso, avete offeso, hanno offeso. The participle passato is offeso (masculine) or offesa (feminine); the gerund is offendendo. The imperative forms are: tu offendi, Lei offenda, noi offendiamo, voi offendete, Loro offendano.

Usage notes and examples: the verb typically takes a direct object referring to the person or group offended, as in “Mi ha offeso” (He offended me) or “Ha offeso la sua sensibilità” (It offended his/her sensibility). The phrase “offendere la suscettibilità” is common for describing actions that hurt someone’s sensibilities. In everyday speech, “offendersi” is used to describe the subject becoming offended: “Si è offeso per le parole.”

Etymology: offendere derives from the same Latin root as the English “offend,” historically meaning to strike against or to harm, and by extension to insult or upset. See also insulta, offesa.