defense

Syllables: de·fenseUK/dɪˈfɛns//ˈdiːˌfɛns/

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

Noun

defense (countable and uncountable, plural defenses)

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

Verb (1)

defense (third-person singular simple present defenses, present participle defensing, simple past and past participle defensed)

(US) To employ defensive tactics (so as to block).
- In fact, there is an increase in the effectiveness of the Five Cutter Offense when teams put pressure on, instead of sagging or switching in an attempt to defense the attack successfully.1972, Robert Cimbollek, Basketball’s Percentage Offense, West Nyack, N.Y.: Parker Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 114
- But the Buffs’ coaching staff made some adjustments in the way they defensed the Heights’ vaunted veer-option offense, and after being bullied around for 271 yards in the first half, yielded only 140 in the second half.2013 November 16, Brett Marshall, “The Garden City Telegram, Kan., Brett Marshall column”, in McClatchy - Tribune Business News, Tribune Content Agency

Verb (2)

defense (third-person singular simple present defenses, present participle defensing, simple past and past participle defensed)

(US, archaic) To furnish with defenses; to defend, protect.
- In the ſyege of greate cities, takyng a bygge compaſſe rounde abowte, we muſt wyth all laboure: make and intercut not farre of the citie, bꝛode and depe trenches defenſed wyth turrettes of woodde, […]1544, Iames the Erle of Purlilia [i.e., Jacopo di Porcia], translated by Peter Betham, “What is to be done in yͤ syege of bygge cities”, in The Preceptes of Warre, […], London: […] Edwarde...
- VVhere being plaſt, vnvviſt of any vvight, / He ſtayde his time, till husband fel on ſleepe, / Then out he gate, defenſt vvith darke of night, / And ſoftly to Salueſtras bed did creepe: […]1587, George Turberuile, “The Argument to the tenth Historie”, in Tragicall Tales […], London: […] Abell Ieffs, […], folio 130, verso

defense meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

defense in Hindi

action of protecting from attack: बचाव bacāv, रक्षा rakṣā

defense in Tamil

வலுவெதிர்ப்பு, விளையாட்டு வலுவெதிர்ப்பு, வல்லுடை

defense in Marathi

बचाव

defense in Urdu

argument in support or justification of something: صَفائی safāī
action of protecting from attack: دِفاع difā', حِمایَت himāyat, رَکْشا rakśā, مُدافَعَت mudāfa'at, مُحافَظَت muhāfazat

More languagesFewer languages

defense in Bengali: রক্ষা rokkha, প্রতিরক্ষা protirokkha
defense in Malayalam: പ്രതിരോധം pratirōdhaṁ
defense in Kannada: ಕಾಹು, ಕಾವಲು
defense in Sinhala: ආරක්ෂක ārakṣaka
defense in Pashto: دفاع defā'
defense in Tagalog: depensa
defense in Arabic: دِفَاع difāʕ, حِمَايَة ḥimāya, مُحَافَظَة muḥāfaẓa, مُدَافَعَة mudāfaʕa
defense in Malay: pertahanan
defense in Indonesian: pertahanan
defense in Thai: การป้องกัน gaan-bpɔ̂ng-gan
defense in Vietnamese: phòng thủ, phòng ngự, phòng vệ, phản biện
defense in Myanmar: ကာကွယ်ရေး ka-kwaire:

Examples of defense in a sentence

“They dug in and defensed the right way.”2014 November 28, Associated Press, “Vols beat Santa Clara, face Kansas”, in The Tennessean, page 2:
The Country of Britain was in old times adorned with 28 Cities, beſide innumerable number of Caſtles defenſed with ſtrong Walls, Towers, Gates and Locks.1661, Percie Enderbie, Cambria Triumphans, or Brittain in Its Perfect Lustre, Shewing the Origen and Antiquity of That Illustrious Nation....

All 40 example sentences with defense

Synonyms of defense

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of defense

Forms of defense

Noun
plural	defenses
alternative UK	defence
Verb
third-person singular present	defenses
present participle	defensing
past participle	defensed
past	defensed

Plural of defense: defenses

Origin of defense

From Middle English defens, defense, from Old French defens, defense, from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“protection”). Displaced native Old English bewering. The verb is from the noun.

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

Words formed from defense

Words that rhyme with defense

16 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about defense

What does defense mean?: Defense means the action of defending or protecting from attack, danger, or injury.
What is defense in Hindi?: Defense in Hindi is बचाव (bacāv), रक्षा (rakṣā). See Defense meaning in Hindi.
How do you use defense in a sentence?: “They dug in and defensed the right way.”
What part of speech is defense?: Defense can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce defense?: Defense is pronounced /dɪˈfɛns/ (UK).
What is the plural of defense?: The plural of defense is defenses.

Words near defense in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: defense (page history and authors); defense (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defense (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); defense (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-defence.ogg.

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