Past tense of defend
regular verb
The past tense of defend is defended. The past participle is also defended.
Forms of defend
| Base form (V1) | defend /dɪˈfɛnd/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | defended /dɪˈfɛndɪd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | defended /dɪˈfɛndɪd/ |
| Present participle | defending /dəˈfɛndɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | defends |
Defended in a sentence
- Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday defended the code of conduct the Supreme Court created last year, but conceded there needs to be a way to enforce the rules for it to be more effective.2024 July 25, Devan Cole, “Justice Elena Kagan says Supreme Court’s code of conduct needs an enforcement plan. Takeaways from her...
- The finance minister defended the deficit budget, arguing that infrastructure investment was necessary for growth.From the entry deficit budget
- The student defended his dissertation successfully.From the entry dissertation
- The lawyer vigorously defended her client.From the entry vigorously
- Deon Fourie, although losing quite a few lineouts, defended with grit.2023 October 28, Leighton Koopman, “YES!!! The Springboks beat the All Blacks to win another Rugby World Cup title”, in Independent Online. From the entry wingmate
Meaning of defend
- verb To ward off attacks against (something or someone).
- verb To ward off attacks from (something or someone).
- verb To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.
Questions about the past tense of defend
- What is the past tense of defend?
- The past tense of defend is defended.
- What is the past participle of defend?
- The past participle of defend is defended.
- Is defend a regular or irregular verb?
- Defend is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: defend (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of defend.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/defend. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.