Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use defensive in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Defensive means intended for defence; protective. Example: “The victim held up his hand to repel the attacker and received a defensive knife wound.”

Examples of defensive by meaning

adjectiveIntended for defence; protective.

  • a defensive perimeter

adjectiveIntended to deter attack.

  • a defensive missile system

adjectivePertaining to defense, as opposed to attack.

  • The victim held up his hand to repel the attacker and received a defensive knife wound.
  • Bulgaria gave a hint of defensive frailties to come when they failed to clear Young's corner, and when Gareth Barry found Cahill in the box he applied the finish past Nikolay Mihaylov.2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC

nounA means, attitude or position of defense. Chiefly in on the defensive.

  • The Germans had developed a highly scientific defensive in which machine-guns replaced rifles and a maximum of punishment was inflicted upon an assaulting force with a minimum of human loss.1916, HG Wells, Mr Britling Sees it Through, London: Hogarth Press, published 1985, page 310
  • Such kinds of defensives are really rather protecting the local companies than the consumers.2007 May 26, Julia Werdigier, “Consolidating the Banks of Europe”, in New York Times

More sentences with defensive

  • The fighters provide a defensive air umbrella over the battle group.From the entry umbrella
  • Our defensive live is too deep. We need to move further up the field.From the entry deep
  • The soccer coach made a like-for-like substitution, replacing the injured defender with another defensive player.From the entry like-for-like
  • Any efforts to reduce overimaging must find ways of addressing the underlying incentives behind defensive medicine.From the entry overimaging
  • Compared to their last match, which was a dour and defensive affair, this was a very open game.From the entry open
  • The defensive line made a bum rush on the quarterback.From the entry bum
  • The quarterback audibled after seeing the defensive formation.From the entry audible
  • The play was scored as defensive indifference.From the entry defensive indifference
  • The defensive line needs to get after the quarterback.From the entry get after
  • Our defensive line is too high.From the entry high
  • The defensive quote from London Tech Week the worst kind of tin ear.”2025 June 11, Ben Quinn, quoting Julia Hobsbawm, “Entrepreneur ‘humiliated’ after London Tech Week turns her and baby away”, in The…. From the entry tin ear
  • Defensive midfielders have to see things before they happen in and out of possession.2023 March 30, Karen Carney, “Rodri’s Manchester City role shows holding midfielders are key to success”, in The Guardian. From the entry midfielder
  • Defensive shields and domiciles may help explain the uneven radiation of chrysomelid subfamilial and tribal clades.2023 August 30, Caroline Simmrita Chaboo, Sally Adam, Kenji Nishida, Luke Schletzbaum, “Architecture, construction, retention, and repair…. From the entry chrysomelid
  • The number six adds additional defensive cover, balance, screening and protection just ahead of the central defence.2022 February 12, “Number six position in football”, in Premier League. From the entry number six
  • Coach Johnson says, "Bubba, I want you to loop around and block that big defensive end!2022, Steven H. Smith, Shout at the Day 2: The Next Year. From the entry mamma jamma
  • Instead, it is defensive and clearly bristles with annoyance when someone merely states the facts.2021 May 5, Barry Doe, “The Independent has a better grasp than GWR's spokesman”, in RAIL, number 930, page 58. From the entry bristle
  • The defensive tackle is an intriguing pick because you know he will ball out this season.2019 September 3, Jeff Fedotin, “How Oddsmakers See The Kansas City Chiefs: The Story Of The Season In 3 Bets”, in Forbes, archived from…. From the entry ball out
  • Laving aside offensive and defensive lineman who do so every play.2019, R.L. Sterup, Things You Can't Say About Sports, page 57. From the entry flag-happy
  • Another example of autothysis, or defensive suicidal rupturing, can be found in Neocapritermes taracua.2018 April 29, Killian Fox, The Observer. From the entry autothysis
  • Liberated from deep defensive duties Eden Hazard has become more expressive, more obviously, flashily complete.2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian. From the entry bloom
  • Brazil's greater quality and assurance in possession meant England spent much of the game on the defensive.2017 November 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0-0 Brazil”, in BBC News. From the entry on the defensive
  • The defensive system they were playing hampered them from going for the juggler.2016 January 29, “Ulster now the only provincial title that means anything — John Gildea”, in Donegal Now. From the entry juggler
  • The defensive bulwark seemed to have developed into a large crack – the threat of Ukrainian irredentism.2015, Serhii Plokhy, chapter 21, in The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. From the entry irredentism
  • Cheek back (verb): defensive strategy of a bism who has been reprimanded for errant behaviour.2011, Prism International, page 39. From the entry bism
  • She was on the defensive, and the monster was nowhere near letting up.2010, Allen Williams, The Witches' Kitchen, Little Brown, →ISBN, pages 67-68. From the entry cleaving
  • Simpson” case, developed countercauses that put the state itself on the defensive.2010, Lynn S. Chancer, High-Profile Crimes: When Legal Cases Become Social Causes, page 170. From the entry countercause
  • In defensive wars, they execute devastating preemptive strikes hours before the enemy's own attacks.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Salarians: Military Doctrine Codex entry. From the entry preemptive strike
  • But why had my father reacted in such a defensive manner over a matter of dates?2008, Dave Sharp, John Parker, Complete Surrender: The True Story of a Family’s Dark Secret and the Brothers It Tore Apart at Birth…. From the entry in the biblical sense
  • These defensive mines anticipated modern antivehicular mines, albeit by collapsing rather than exploding.2006, Norman Youngblood, The development of mine warfare: a most murderous and barbarous conduct. From the entry antivehicular
  • Then on the other side, they put Richard Dent at a weakside defensive end.2005, Tom Flores with Robert O'Connor, Coaching Football: From Youth Leagues to the Pros, page 73. From the entry weakside
  • People feel entitled to their entitlement, and frequently feel defensive when it is challenged.2003, Richard M. Billow, Relational Group Psychotherapy: From Basic Assumptions to Passion, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 107. From the entry entitled
  • He absolutely cowers as soon as a defensive lineman gets anywhere near him.2003 September 24, Bob TheBear, “About Ricky Ray”, in rec.sport.football.canadian (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jun 2026. From the entry chickenpoop
  • In Khacha defensive actions and feudal wars great use was made of Kathiawaris.1998, Ann Hyland, The Warhorse, 1250-1600, page 165. From the entry Kathiawari
  • He had quite a few nice defensive plays that won't show up in the box score.1997 November 6, Matthew Chung-Chie Sin, “Finally, Laettner shows up”, in rec.sport.basketball.pro (Usenet), archived from the original on…. From the entry blox

Meaning of defensive

  1. adjective Intended for defence; protective.
  2. adjective Intended to deter attack.
  3. adjective Performed so as to minimise risk.

Full definition of defensive

Questions about defensive in a sentence

How do you use defensive in a sentence?
Defensive is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “The victim held up his hand to repel the attacker and received a defensive knife wound.”
What is a short sentence with defensive?
“a defensive perimeter”
What does defensive mean?
Defensive means intended for defence; protective.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defensive (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use defensive in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/defensive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.