| Part of a series on |
| Censorship |
|---|
| By media |
| Banned books · Banned films Re-edited film · Internet Music · Press · Radio · Thought Speech and expression Video games |
| Methods |
| Bleeping · Book burning Broadcast delay · Chilling effect Concision · Conspiracy of silence Content-control software Euphemism · Expurgation Gag order · Heckling Internet censorship circumvention Memory hole · Newspaper theft Pixelization · Political correctness Postal · Prior restraint Propaganda model Revisionism · Sanitization/Redaction Self-censorship · Speech code Strategic lawsuit · Verbal offence Whitewashing |
| Contexts |
| Corporate · Political · Religious Ideological · Criminal speech Hate speech · Media bias Suppression of dissent · Systemic bias |
| By country |
| Censorship · Freedom of speech Internet censorship |
Verbal offence (or 'offence of the word') is a crime that exists in many countries that impose limitations on freedom of speech. It refers to dissent and/or blasphemy. Laws that penalize "verbal offences" are often used as an instrument of government and state oppression.
"Verbal offence" exists in the legal systems of communist states and in sharia law, but also in many European countries.