Word.ws English Dictionary

Matrix defense

Matrix defense proper noun: a legal defense in which the defendant claims to have committed a crime in the belief that they were not in the real world, but in a simulated reality.

Proper noun

the Matrix defense

  1. (US) A legal defense in which the defendant claims to have committed a crime in the belief that they were not in the real world, but in a simulated reality.
    • There is now a legal strategy called the "Matrix defense," which has been an effective form of insanity defense. The film evidently had a part in inspiring Lee Malvo, the Washington D.C. sniper, and it has been mentioned in connection with the Columbine High School killings, which happened less...2012, C. Stephen Jaeger, Enchantment: On Charisma and the Sublime in the Arts of the West, University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 41

Origin of Matrix defense

From the plot of the film The Matrix (1999), whose protagonist is woken from an illusionary simulated world into the dystopian reality.

Questions about Matrix defense

What does Matrix defense mean?
Matrix defense means a legal defense in which the defendant claims to have committed a crime in the belief that they were not in the real world, but in a simulated reality.
What part of speech is Matrix defense?
Matrix defense is a proper noun.

Words near Matrix defense in the dictionary

  1. matrix algebras
  2. matrix clause
  3. matrix clauses
  4. matrix decomposition
  5. matrix decompositions
  6. Matrix defense
  7. matrix diagram
  8. matrix diagrams
  9. matrix group
  10. matrix groups
  11. matrix isolation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Matrix defense (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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