defense

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See also: défense

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From French défense, itself from Late Latin dēfensa (“protection”). Displaced native Old English bewering.

Pronunciation

Noun

defense (countable and uncountable, plural defenses) (American spelling)

  1. The action of defending or protecting from attack, danger, or injury.
  2. Anything employed to oppose attack(s).
    1. (team sports) A strategy and tactics employed to prevent the other team from scoring; contrasted with offense.
    2. (team sports) The portion of a team dedicated to preventing the other team from scoring; contrasted with offense.
  3. An argument in support or justification of something.
    to come to someone's defense
    1. (law, by extension) The case presented by the defendant in a legal proceeding.
    2. (law, by extension) The lawyer or team thereof who presents such a case.
  4. (government, military, euphemistic) Government policy or (infra)structure related to the military.
    Department of Defense
  5. (obsolete) A prohibition; a prohibitory ordinance.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Latin

Pronunciation

Participle

dēfēnse

  1. vocative masculine singular of dēfēnsus

Portuguese

Verb

defense

  1. inflection of defensar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /deˈfense/
  • Rhymes: -ense
  • Syllabification: de‧fen‧se

Verb

defense

  1. inflection of defensar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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