offender

offender — noun

1. someone who has broken the law and is treated by the police, courts, or society

1.nounB2
Definition

someone who has broken the law and is treated by the police, courts, or society as responsible for the crime.

Example

The judge sent the young offender to a special school instead of prison.

young offender — common collocation in juvenile justice

Police in Taipei arrested a repeat offender outside the night market.

repeat offender — collocation for someone who breaks the law again

Common collocations
  • young offender
  • juvenile offender
  • first-time offender
  • repeat offender
  • persistent offender
  • sex offender
  • drug offender
  • traffic offender
  • convicted offender
Synonyms
  • criminal

    more general; covers anyone judged guilty of a crime, used in everyday speech

  • wrongdoer

    more formal and moral in tone, including non-legal bad acts

  • culprit

    the specific person who did one particular wrong act, often used informally

  • lawbreaker

    plain English equivalent, slightly less formal than 'offender'

Antonyms
  • victim

    the person harmed by the crime, the opposite role in a legal case

  • law-abiding citizen

    phrase used for someone who obeys the law

Grammar Patterns

a/an + offender

first-time/repeat/young + offender

Usage Note

Frequently appears with a modifier that classifies the crime or the criminal record: young, juvenile, first-time, repeat, persistent, sex, drug, traffic. The modifier is part of normal usage and is rarely dropped in news or legal writing.

Common Mistakes

He is an offender of the company rules.
He has broken the company rules.
'offender' is most natural for legal crimes, not internal workplace rule-breaking.
She is the offender who stole my bag.
She is the thief who stole my bag.
for a specific crime, English prefers the specific noun (thief, robber, attacker); 'offender' is used in general or legal contexts.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name a person who has done something wrong, but they sit at different points on the legal-to-moral scale. 'Offender' is the standard term in courts, police reports, and news writing, and it almost always pairs with a modifier (young, repeat, sex, first-time). 'Criminal' is broader and more everyday; you can call someone a criminal in casual speech without thinking about which specific law they broke. 'Culprit' zooms in on one particular act and is often light in tone — a teacher might call the student who broke a window 'the culprit'. 'Wrongdoer' is more formal and moral, covering bad behaviour that may not even be illegal. Compare: 'a young offender (legal label)', 'a dangerous criminal (general)', 'the culprit behind the prank (one act)', 'wrongdoers will be punished (moral warning).'

offender ↗criminal ↗culpritwrongdoer

Common collocations

Nouns

  • offender programme
  • offender rehabilitation
  • offender register
  • young offender institution

Phrases

  • deal with offenders
  • rehabilitate offenders
  • punish offenders
  • track offenders

Prepositions

  • against (an offender against the law)

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Built from the verb 'offend' plus the agent suffix '-er', literally 'one who offends'. 'Offend' came into Middle English from Old French 'offendre', which traces back to Latin 'offendere', meaning to strike against or stumble upon. The legal sense — someone who has broken a law — became the dominant modern meaning in English from the 1500s onward.