noun

• 1A person who commits an illegal act.

  ‘an institution for juvenile offenders’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Offenders often fail to realize the severity of their crimes, and an antagonistic prison environment can exacerbate feelings of being wrongly accused and hamper treatment.’
  • ‘State budget deficits are often amplified by costs associated with prisons bulging with nonviolent drug offenders.’
  • ‘In the past two decades, the federal prison population has doubled, mostly due to drug offenders.’
  • ‘Under a civil lawsuit, however, the judge can decide freely which measure will be taken against the offender.’
  • ‘The shots fired at her by the offender were totally unprovoked, totally unnecessary.’
  • ‘Many of the young offenders who are let out are not first offenders.’
  • ‘The offenders had previously either been found guilty or pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods.’
  • ‘Offenders of intellectual property violations will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.’
  • ‘It demonstrated the procedures to follow for sentencing young offenders.’
  • ‘That is what we are dealing with, with child sex offenders.’
  • ‘There are no similar laws denying aid to violent or other criminal offenders - including murderers.’
  • ‘He pushed for a law that would forever put away violent repeat offenders like the men who killed his daughter.’
  • ‘This sentence allows an offender to be detained indefinitely.’
  • ‘The teenagers, both persistent young offenders, had admitted at least three other offences each on different days in west York.’
  • ‘Important differences emerged regarding the criminal histories of major and minor offenders.’
  • ‘There are major problems, nevertheless, in applying the law there and prosecuting offenders.’
  • ‘There is nowhere dedicated to housing and rehabilitating delinquent girls or juvenile female offenders.’
  • ‘They emphasize violent criminals to build prisons and they fill them with drug offenders, and insist on the death penalty.’
  • ‘Drunk drivers and other misdemeanor offenders may be less likely to face prison if a Ministry of Justice policy proposed yesterday is implemented.’
  • ‘She owns her own firm — often representing repeat offenders — and finds herself in a world unto itself.’

  Synonyms

  wrongdoer, criminal, lawbreaker, malefactor, felon, delinquent, culprit, guilty party, sinner, transgressor, evil-doer, reprobate, outlaw

  View synonyms

• 2A person or thing that offends, does something wrong, or causes problems.

  ‘of atmospheric pollutants, the worst offender is sulfur dioxide’

  More example sentences

  • ‘he himself may be an offender of the very issues he is discussing’
  • ‘The two greatest offenders come back-to-back in the middle of the album.’
  • ‘In this respect, the Roman Catholics are not by any means the only offenders.’
  • ‘People working in hospitals have told me that the worst offenders for not washing their hands are the doctors.’
  • ‘The Irish Deaf Society says less than a tenth of all Irish broadcasting is subtitled, with these stations being the worst offenders.’
  • ‘Whether they can actually negotiate voluntary restraints remains unclear, since presumed offenders are peddling cut-rate steel in part to keep shaky economies afloat.’
  • ‘Now, in the epoch of multiculturalism, the offenders are accused of being Eurocentric or of exhibiting cultural arrogance.’
  • ‘The carer, a competent young woman, was obviously quite accustomed to this and handled the worst offenders with patience, courtesy, and complete effectiveness.’
  • ‘He was the worst offender in the overconfidence that swept Portuguese ranks and halted their early momentum.’