Word.ws English Dictionary

defence

/dɪˈfɛns/

defence noun: the action of defending, of protecting from attack, danger or injury.

Noun

defence (countable and uncountable, plural defences)

  1. (UK) The action of defending, of protecting from attack, danger or injury.
    • In cases of defence ’tis best to weigh
      The enemy more mighty than he seems:1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  2. (UK) Something used to oppose attacks.
    • And nothing ’gainst Time’s scythe can make defence
      Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 12”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
    • As governments and health officials continue to flip-flop on vaccine age requirements, and anti-vaxxers spread falsehoods through social media and protests, the vaxxie might just be a powerful line of defence against vaccine hesitancy.2021 July 28, Louise Grimmer, Gary Mortimer, Martin Grimmer, “Vaccine selfies may seem trivial, but they show people doing their civic duty — and probably encourage others too”, in The Conversation...
  3. (UK) An argument in support or justification of something.
    • Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,
      Against thy reasons making no defence.1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 89”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
    • In Hodgson's defence, it must be stated that in large parts this was a vibrant, energetic performance with the emphasis almost exclusively on attack.2016 June 11, Phil McNulty, “England 1-1 Russia”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 24 May 2024
  4. (UK, team sports) A strategy and tactics employed to prevent the other team from scoring; contrasted with offence.
    • But the Danes remained resolute in defence - largely thanks to a spirited display by captain Daniel Agger - and they went ahead with their first meaningful attack.2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2025
  5. (UK, team sports) The portion of a team dedicated to preventing the other team from scoring; contrasted with offence.
    • The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect...2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in The Telegraph, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2012
  6. (UK) Government policy or (infra)structure related to the military.
    • Department of Defence
  7. (UK, obsolete) Prohibition; a prohibitory ordinance.
    • […] severe defences may be made against weaving any Linnen under a certain breadth, such as may be of better use to the poorest People […]1673, William Temple, “An Essay upon the Advancement of Trade in Ireland” in Miscellanea, London: Edw[ard] Gellibrand, 1680, p. 116

Verb

defence (third-person singular simple present defences, present participle defencing, simple past and past participle defenced)

  1. (UK, obsolete, transitive) To furnish with defences; to fortify.
    • Better manned and more strongly defenced.1656, John Hales, Dixi Custodiam

defence meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

defence in Hindi

defence
रक्षा rakṣā
defence , defense
बचाव bacāv

defence in Tamil

வலுவெதிர்ப்பு

defence in Urdu

defence
دفاع difā', رکشا rakśā, صفائی safāī
defence, protection
حمایت himāyat

defence in Bengali

প্রতিরক্ষা, রক্ষা, রক্ষণ, পক্ষসমর্থন, প্রতিবাদীর
More languagesFewer languages
defence in Telugu
డిఫెన్స్
defence in Malayalam
കാവൽ, ന്യായീകരണം, എതിർവാദം, രാജ്യരക്ഷ
defence in Kannada
ಆತ್ಮರಕ್ಷಣೆ, ಪ್ರತಿರಕ್ಷಣೆ, ಆಕ್ರಮಣದಿಂದ ರಕ್ಷಿಸುವುದು, ದಾಳಿಯಿಂದ ಕಾಪಾಡುವುದು
defence in Gujarati
સંરક્ષણ
defence in Odia
ପ୍ରତିରକ୍ଷା
defence in Nepali
रक्षा

Examples of defence in a sentence

  • It is no defence to plead that you were only obeying orders.
  • It became clear that future defence investment plans would have to confront a riskier world.
  • The NATO ministerial was attended by the defence ministers of all member states.

All 40 example sentences with defence

Antonyms of defence

Forms of defence

Noun
pluraldefences
alternative USdefense
Verb
third-person singular presentdefences
present participledefencing
past participledefenced
pastdefenced

Plural of defence: defences

Origin of defence

From Middle English defens, defense, from Old French defens, defense, from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“protection”). Displaced Old English bewering.

From Middle English defencen, defensen, from Old French defenser or its etymon, Latin dēfēnsō.

Words formed from defence

Phrases with defence

23 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with defence

16 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about defence

What does defence mean?
Defence means the action of defending, of protecting from attack, danger or injury.
What is defence in Hindi?
Defence in Hindi is रक्षा (rakṣā), बचाव (bacāv). See Defence meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is defence?
Defence can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce defence?
Defence is pronounced /dɪˈfɛns/ (UK).
What is the plural of defence?
The plural of defence is defences.

Words near defence in the dictionary

  1. defeminizations
  2. defeminize
  3. defeminized
  4. defeminizes
  5. defeminizing
  6. defence
  7. defence accord
  8. defence accords
  9. defence counsel
  10. defence counsels
  11. defence diplomacy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defence (page history and authors); बचाव (Hindi) (page history and authors); defence (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); حمایت (Urdu) (page history and authors); defence (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defence (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); defence (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defence (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defence (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); defence (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); defence (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-defence.wav.

Cite this entry: “defence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/defence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.