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offence

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A transgression, insult, injury, or breach of law; used in poetry to denote moral wrong, hurt feelings, or legal infraction.

Detailed Definition
Offence is the British spelling of offense, meaning harm, insult, or wrongdoing. In the poem it refers to the speaker’s concern about whether building a wall is an act of wrong or injury toward someone else.
Example
Example in poetry:
“And to whom I was like to give offence” uses the traditional spelling for insult or injury; “No offence was meant, yet silence wounded more” distinguishes intention from effect; In legal and moral poetry, offence may mean a transgression or sin; “She named the offence plainly at the microphone” gives the noun contemporary public force.
Additional Notes
The spelling and moral sense in the quote can feel slightly formal or old-fashioned to modern readers.; Found in the poem, Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Also Known As
transgression wrongdoing infraction
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