Word.ws English Dictionary

ecodefence

UK/ˌiːkəʊdɪˈfɛns/

ecodefence noun: collectively, actions intended to disrupt human activities perceived to be damaging to the environment, typically including civil disobedience and illegal sabotage.

Noun

ecodefence (uncountable)

  1. Collectively, actions intended to disrupt human activities perceived to be damaging to the environment, typically including civil disobedience and illegal sabotage.
    • ⁽¹⁾ Ecodefence is a provocative call to those deeply concerned with the need for immediate protection of the limited wilderness areas remaining in Canada and the U.S.
    • ⁽²⁾ Foreman concedes that ecodefence is not the only answer to the defence and promotion of wilderness.
    • ⁽³⁾ The guide includes contributions from several different authors who, with the exception of Foreman, remain anonymous because the ecodefence tactics they advocate are acts of civil disobedience or crimes against property.
    • ⁽⁴⁾ […] who should be included in the ecodefence groups, and how to ensure one’s own safety and the safety of those engaged in the activities one is trying to prevent. [¶] Despite the space dedicated to the safety issue, one walks away with the sense that ecodefence may be a very dangerous activity.1987: University of Waterloo Faculty of Environmental Studies, Alternatives, volume 14, unknown pages: (1), (2), (3), (4) (Trent University)

Synonyms of ecodefence

Forms of ecodefence

alternative formeco-defence
alternative formeco-defense
alternative formecodefense

Origin of ecodefence

Coined (as ecodefense) by David Foreman in his 1985 book Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching, from eco- + defence.

Questions about ecodefence

What does ecodefence mean?
Ecodefence means collectively, actions intended to disrupt human activities perceived to be damaging to the environment, typically including civil disobedience and illegal sabotage.
What part of speech is ecodefence?
Ecodefence is a noun.
How do you pronounce ecodefence?
Ecodefence is pronounced /ˌiːkəʊdɪˈfɛns/ (UK).

Words near ecodefence in the dictionary

  1. ecoculture
  2. ecocultures
  3. ecocycle
  4. ecocycles
  5. ecod
  6. ecodefence
  7. ecodefense
  8. ecodeme
  9. ecodemes
  10. ecodemocracy
  11. ecodesign

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ecodefence (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.

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