offender

• offendor, offendour (obsolete)

From Middle English offendour, offender, offendir, equivalent to offend +‎ -er.

• Rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ)

offender (plural offenders)

1. One who gives or causes offense, or does something wrong.
   • 1961 March, Warren Smith, “The problems of train regulation - a study of operation at Trent”, in Trains Illustrated, page 169:

     Almost all down trains are late, however; the empty wagon trains are probably the worst offenders and one or two hours' late running by them is not unusual.

2. A person who commits an offense against the law, a lawbreaker.

• See also Thesaurus:criminal

• “offender”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• forefend, reoffend

• Hyphenation: of‧fen‧der

offender (first-person singular present offendo, first-person singular preterite offendi, past participle offendido)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of ofender.
   • 1933, Graciliano Ramos, chapter V, in Cahetés‎^[1], 1st edition, Rio de Janeiro: Schmidt, page 29:

     — Leviandade, João Valerio. Não se offende assim uma pessoa ausente. Deixe para dizer isso a elle, se tiver razão para dizer. Razão e coragem. A nós, não.

     “Foolishness, João Valério. One doesn’t offend someone who’s not present in this way. Save it and tell it to him, if you have reason to. Reason and guts. Not to us.”