Is there any difference between "offense" and "offence"?

There is no difference in meaning between offence and offense. They're exactly the same in all their definitions. The difference is that offense is the ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Isthereanydifferencebetween"offense"and"offence"? AskQuestion Asked 10years,9monthsago Active 8yearsago Viewed 276ktimes 27 3 "Offense"vs."offence",whichismorecorrect?Ifbotharecorrect,arethereanydifferencesinshadesofmeaningand/orusage? american-englishbritish-englishorthographyse-ce Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedNov2'12at20:18 RegDwigнt♦ 94.9k3737goldbadges304304silverbadges396396bronzebadges askedMar17'11at11:12 AntonTykhyyAntonTykhyy 44011goldbadge44silverbadges66bronzebadges 3 6 Related:“Defense”or“defence”,Licenseandlicence,Practisev.practice,andCan“advise”beusedwiththedefinitionof“advice”? – RegDwigнt ♦ Mar17'11at12:01 3 Practise/practiceandadvise/adviceareabitdifferentbecauseinthesecasesthes-versionsareusedasverbsandthec-versionsasnouns,but(de/of)fen(s/c)eareallnouns. – AntonTykhyy Mar17'11at17:29 HaLmakesavalidpointaboutpronunciationandemphasisonthe1stor2ndsyllable.Butitisverylikelyacolloquialdifference,likeHO-telvs.ho-TEL,adifferencethatseemstomanifestbetweeneastandwestcoasts.Butthisisnotadifferenceinmeaning.n0nChunandRegDwigнthaveitright,atthetop.AndIbelieveIalsohavenoticedthatoffenceisuseduniversallyasalegalterm,whereasoffenseisuseduniversallyasahockeyterm."Thingslegal"holdontotheirBritishroots,lawbeingaformalandconservativeinstitution. – user57374 Nov14'13at13:44 Addacomment  |  5Answers 5 Active Oldest Votes 26 Thereisnodifferenceinmeaningbetweenoffenceandoffense.They'reexactlythesameinalltheirdefinitions.ThedifferenceisthatoffenseisthepreferredspellinginAmericanEnglish,whileoffenceispreferredinBritish,Indian,Canadian,andAustralianEnglish. TheseAmericanpublicationsuseoffense: TheveterantightendneverfoundahomeinMikeMartz’soffenseandwasinactiveforallbutfivegames.[ChicagoSun-Times] Ifpeopletakeoffenseathackneyedphrasesit’sbecausethey’rehackneyed...[TheAtlantic] Andthesenon-Americanpublicationsuseoffence: Bothoffencescanexploitsomeareasthatplaytotheirstrengths.[CBC] Parentswhofailtokeepairgunsawayfromtheirchildrenwillbefinedupto£1,000underanewoffencefromnextmonth.[Telegraph] Pulpitchoicegivesoffence[SydneyMorningHerald] Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJun15'20at7:40 CommunityBot 1 answeredMar17'11at11:41 n0nChunn0nChun 2,68755goldbadges2323silverbadges2323bronzebadges 4 2 I'mnotsureIagreewiththis.Whatabouttheuseofoffenseintherealmofsports?Asin,"TheMilwaukeeBuckshaveagod-awfuloffense."Ihaveneverseenthatusagespelled"offence." – Uticensis Mar17'11at12:39 ButasHaLpointsout,thatusageisnotcustomaryinplacesthatspelltheword"offence". – ColinFine Mar17'11at18:04 Don'tforgetuskiwis..... – PreetSangha Dec1'11at12:23 2 @Billare:That'sbecausenoonecaresabouttheMilwaukeeBucksoutsidetheUS.:PSeriously,thefactthatacertainmeaningofoffense/offenceexistsonlyinAmericanEnglishdoesn'tmeanthatthere'sadifferenceinmeaningbetweenspellingvariants.(E.g.ifthere'sausageof"colour"insomeparticularBritishcontextnotapplicableinAmerica,itdoesn'tmeanthere'sadifferenceinmeaningbetween"colour"and"color".)Inthiscase,theAmericansportsmeaningof"offense"isexactlytheoppositeof"defense",whichholdstheothersideofthepondtoo:offenceantonymofdefence. – ShreevatsaR Dec7'11at3:23 Addacomment  |  6 Thereisadifferencebetween"offense"and"offence"inthecontextofsports.IntheUnitedStates,"offense"generallymeansengaginganopposingteamwiththeobjectiveofscoringpointsorgoals.InthesamecontextinBritainandelsewhere,theterm"offence"isusuallytakentomeananinfractionoftherules-i.e.,apenaltyorfoul-and"attack"ismorelikelytobeusedwhereAmericanswoulduse"offense". Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredMar17'11at13:16 HaLHaL 8,55611goldbadge3333silverbadges3535bronzebadges 3 2 Strangely,Ialsohearthemdifferentlyinthosecontexts.OFF-ensefortheopposentofdefenseandoff-ENCEforafoul.NoideawhyandIhighlydoubtitiscorrect. – MrHen Mar17'11at15:54 @MrHen:I'veheardthatdistinctiontoo. – JonPurdy Mar17'11at18:26 2 Thisisnotreallyadifference.InAmericanEnglish,onlytheword"offense"exists,andisusedintwomeaningsdespiteriskofambiguity.InBritish(andelsewhere)English,onlytheword"offence"exists,andisusedwithonlyonemeaning.ThereisnovarietyofEnglishinwhichboth"offense"and"offence"areused,soit'snotmeaningfultosaythatthere'sadifferencebetweenthem(beyondthefactthatthey'reusedindifferentEnglishes). – ShreevatsaR Dec5'11at8:43 Addacomment  |  0 OffenseissimplytheAmericanspellingofthewordoffence.OffenceistheBritishspelling.Theybothmeanthesamething.Thisisjustoneexampleofthedifferenceinspellingwordsthatendin"ence",inAmericanEnglish.Youcanlearnaboutallofthewordsthatinvolvethisdifferenceontheinternet.Forexample,thesepageshavegoodexplanationsofit:http://www.tysto.com/articles05/q1/20050324uk-us.shtmlandhttp://www.studyenglishtoday.net/british-american-spelling.html Thereisadifferenceinusage.OffenseiswrittenbypeoplewhospeakAmericanEnglishandbypeoplethatarewritingmainlyoronlyforanaudiencewhospeakAmericanEnglish.WhenwritingmainlyoronlyforanaudiencewhodonotspeakAmericanEnglish,writingoffensewillnotbenecessaryandwillnotbeappropriate. Ifyouneedtodecideonwhichspellingtouse,baseyourdecisiononyouraudience(whowillbereadingyourwriting). Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedSep28'12at18:12 tchrist♦ 126k4848goldbadges348348silverbadges540540bronzebadges answeredMar23'12at14:45 TristanTristan 2,6011717silverbadges77bronzebadges Addacomment  |  0 Wordschangewithtime.OriginallytheBritishwordwas"offence",andAmericansslowlytooktheword"offense".Theybothmeantthesamething.Westressthelastsyllablewhenreferringtobreakingarule,whereaswestressthefirstsyllablewhenwespeakabouttheoppositeofdefence.Thefactthatthelastsyllableisstressedwhenwespeakabouttheoppositeofoffenceisprobablywhypeoplewanttospellitlikethecommonword"fence",whereaspeoplearenowusingtheterm"offense"whentheystressthefirstsyllable.It'snotalwaysbeenthatway.Butlanguagesarenotdefinedbytheirhistories,they'redefinedbythepeoplewhousethem.Historicallinguisticsdoesnotdeterminehowpeopleusealanguagecurrently. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredMar4'13at6:09 PeterPeter 11311silverbadge55bronzebadges 5 2 Whoiswein"Westressthelastsyllable"?SEanswersarealwaysbestwhenwrittenfromanentirelyobjective(egthird-person)pointofview--especiallywhendealingwithregionaldifferencesoflanguage. – AndrewLeach ♦ Mar4'13at8:36 It'shardtospeakobjectivelywhenthere'snosourcetotellushowEnglishischanging.EveryoneI'vemetstressesthelastsyllablewhenreferringtobreakingaruleandstressthefirstwhentheyrefertotheoppositeofdefence.Whenwasthelasttimeyouheardsomeoneusethewordinthisfashion:"Idon'twantyoutotakeOFF-fensetoit".It'sbecauseoffenceistherootwordofoffendedinthiscaseandoffendeddoesnotstressthe"off".Peopleusebothpronunciationswhentalkingaboutsports,butwhenwetalkaboutsomethingthatoffendsweonlyusethetermoff-FENSE. – Peter Mar4'13at14:26 NotealsoIspelledthetwodefinitionsdifferently,justbecauseIthinkthatdoingsoisusefulandIwelcomechangesinlanguageespwhentheyareuseful – Peter Mar4'13at14:28 So"we"is"Americans"? – AndrewLeach ♦ Mar4'13at14:38 Yes,sorry,Ididn'tunderstandyourpoint.Americans,yes – Peter Mar4'13at14:45 Addacomment  |  -3 Ifyoumeantthatsomethingisoffensivethenthespellingisoffense.Ifyoumeanthatyouaremountinganoppositionthenitisoffence. Forinstance,"Ifoundhisremarksconcerningthepresidentwerearealoffense".Orthey"wereoffensive"."Theadcompanymountedahugecampaigntopositiontheoffenceagainsttheiropponents." Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedNov2'12at19:37 RegDwigнt♦ 94.9k3737goldbadges304304silverbadges396396bronzebadges answeredFeb16'12at17:14 MaggieMaggie 7 1 3 No,it'sbeenclearlyexplainedabovethatthereisnodifference.UnlessyouhaveacrediblesourceforassumptionI'mgoingtohavetodisagree. – MattE.Эллен ♦ Feb21'12at13:34 Addacomment  |  Highlyactivequestion.Earn10reputation(notcountingtheassociationbonus)inordertoanswerthisquestion.Thereputationrequirementhelpsprotectthisquestionfromspamandnon-answeractivity. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedamerican-englishbritish-englishorthographyse-ceoraskyourownquestion. TheOverflowBlog HowoftendopeopleactuallycopyandpastefromStackOverflow?Nowweknow. 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