as in attacks
the act or action of setting upon with force or violence
the primary offensive by the ground forces will commence at dawn tomorrow
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Recent Examples of offensives
The army has retaken territory from ethnic militias, including the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which had launched powerful offensives along with pro-democracy resistance forces in northeastern Myanmar near the Chinese border and in western Myanmar.
—
ABC News, 21 Apr. 2026
Putin is widely expected to launch new offensives as the weather in Ukraine improves, piling further pressure on Kyiv.
—Hanna Arhirova, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
From these footholds, Indonesian special forces organized and launched offensives against Fretilin to force its retreat.
—Agathe Demarolle, Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Mar. 2026
Nation-states now pair kinetic strikes with digital offensives.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 1 Mar. 2026
Dynamic shifts on the battlefield — with large swaths of Ukrainian land changing hands in offensives and counteroffensives in the early years of the war — have since given way to a conflict of inches.
—Joanna Kakissis, NPR, 24 Feb. 2026
The report said Russian forces have advanced at an average rate of between 49 to 230 feet per day in their most prominent offensives.
—Arkansas Online, 29 Jan. 2026
Higher-level Russian headquarters interpret this footage as evidence that territory has been captured and therefore do not order further offensives.
—Vikram Mittal, Forbes.com, 16 Jan. 2026
Russian forces are intensifying offensives in Donetsk, expanding long-range strikes on cities and energy infrastructure, and pressing for territorial concessions.
—Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
ABC News, 21 Apr. 2026
Putin is widely expected to launch new offensives as the weather in Ukraine improves, piling further pressure on Kyiv.
—Hanna Arhirova, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
From these footholds, Indonesian special forces organized and launched offensives against Fretilin to force its retreat.
—Agathe Demarolle, Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Mar. 2026
Nation-states now pair kinetic strikes with digital offensives.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 1 Mar. 2026
Dynamic shifts on the battlefield — with large swaths of Ukrainian land changing hands in offensives and counteroffensives in the early years of the war — have since given way to a conflict of inches.
—Joanna Kakissis, NPR, 24 Feb. 2026
The report said Russian forces have advanced at an average rate of between 49 to 230 feet per day in their most prominent offensives.
—Arkansas Online, 29 Jan. 2026
Higher-level Russian headquarters interpret this footage as evidence that territory has been captured and therefore do not order further offensives.
—Vikram Mittal, Forbes.com, 16 Jan. 2026
Russian forces are intensifying offensives in Donetsk, expanding long-range strikes on cities and energy infrastructure, and pressing for territorial concessions.
—Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for offensives
Noun
-
Both Hezbollah and Israel have have defended their attacks and claimed that the other has violated the ceasefire.—
Sarah Dean,
NBC news,
25 Apr. 2026
-
While disrupting the business of an American multinational company may seem a pallid response to the destruction of an Iranian primary school where more than a hundred children were killed, such asymmetric attacks in the physical and digital realms have been a feature of this conflict.—
Sue Halpern,
New Yorker,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
He is stripped of his business license, faces police raids and arrests, and is forced to shut down the testing centre.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Within days, the farm raids ended.—
Anna Giaritelli,
The Washington Examiner,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
No one was injured in the assaults, which included a shooting at a police station in the rural area of Jamundi, and an attack on a Civil Aviation radar facility in El Tambo, where authorities took down three explosives-laden drones.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
25 Apr. 2026
-
American forces have used thousands of missiles in attacking Iran while allies have powered through stockpiles in fending off Tehran’s assaults, leaving reserves low and forcing the Pentagon to rush hardware to the Gulf.—
Semafor Events,
semafor.com,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
If offenses continue after an initial 30-day notice, the boater could be required to leave the marina.—
Phil Diehl,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
-
Aline is unexpectedly freed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as authorities release detainees accused of minor offenses to free up the overpopulated jails.—
Lise Pedersen,
Variety,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
When will these onslaughts of cold end?—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
31 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Oil prices have surged since February 28, when the US and Israel opened aggressions by assassinating Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in a series of missile strikes that also killed the commander of the IRGC, the minister of defense, and other top brass.—
Frank Landymore,
Futurism,
12 Mar. 2026
-
As servers delicately navigate around the women, serving plates of food that will never be touched, micro-aggressions are tossed, disguised as jokes.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Harley’s been much more noticeable in this series and, again, has excellent underlying numbers — his 23 shot attempts are second only to Heiskanen, and his nine shots on goal are second only to Robertson.—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Previous attempts at extracting uranium ions have relied on a passive system in which adsorbents remain stationary and wait for uranium ions to pass through them for trapping.—
Ameya Paleja,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The strikes sparked fires at the facility, which processes 15 million tons of oil a year and produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the Russian military.—
Samya Kullab,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Apr. 2026
-
The majority of these strikes happen during the summer, causing around 20 fatalities each year, according to the NWS.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Offensives.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/offensives. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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