The Collaborative International Dictionary
Offensive \Of*fen"sive\, n. The state or posture of one who offends or makes attack; aggressive attitude; the act of the attacking party; -- opposed to defensive.
To take the offensive, To act on the offensive, To go on the offensive, to be the attacking party; to initiate hostilities.
Usage examples of "to take the offensive".
Badgers were possibly the meanest creatures in the region, even above the orcs, quicker to anger than Bluster the bear and quite willing to take the offensive against any opponent, no matter how large.
At the same time as the Fourth and Third Armies entered the Ardennes, he ordered the Fifth Army to take the offensive across the Sambre against the enemy’.
It had never occurred to them that the enemy might have the sheer nerve to take the offensive after all these years.
Von Kluck's mistake had been due to the fact that he believed that he had broken the British at Mons and Le Cateau, and shattered them so severely that it would be quite impossible for them to take the offensive for many weeks to come.
Perhaps it is time for us to take the offensive against the Synchronized Worlds.
Now it was Entreri's turn to take the offensive, and he did so with a powerful thrust high, thrust center, thrust low routine that had Domo inevitably skittering backward, fighting hard merely to keep his balance.
Now the Western Forces-an alliance of democratic armies and militias joined together to rid the American continent of the Circle Army-were preparing to take the offensive.
Three days after the 10th of Fructidor, when, as everybody knew and saw, the final blow was to be struck, the eighty deputies, who change their quarters so as not to be seized in their beds, cannot yet make up their minds to take the offensive.
She wants to take the offensive before Summer pushes a power play, and she’.
It was time for the rebellion to cease the defensive, and to take the offensive, however limited its means, however powerful the enemy.
It is better to take the offensive against such a threat, to find out the source rather than try to react to the situation.
Badgers were possibly the meanest creatures in the region, even above the ores, quicker to anger than Bluster the bear and quite willing to take the offensive against any opponent, no matter how large.