English Online Dictionary. What means defense? What does defense mean?
English
Alternative forms
- defence (British)
Etymology
From French défense, itself from Late Latin dēfensa (“protection”). Displaced native Old English bewering.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /dɪˈfɛns/
- (sports): (US, often) IPA(key): /ˈdiːˌfɛns/
- Rhymes: -ɛns
Noun
defense (countable and uncountable, plural defenses) (American spelling)
- The action of defending or protecting from attack, danger, or injury.
- Anything employed to oppose attack(s).
- (team sports) A strategy and tactics employed to prevent the other team from scoring; contrasted with offense.
- (team sports) The portion of a team dedicated to preventing the other team from scoring; contrasted with offense.
- An argument in support or justification of something.
- to come to someone's defense
- (law, by extension) The case presented by the defendant in a legal proceeding.
- (law, by extension) The lawyer or team thereof who presents such a case.
- (government, military, euphemistic) Government policy or (infra)structure related to the military.
- Department of Defense
- (obsolete) A prohibition; a prohibitory ordinance.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:defense
Antonyms
- offense
- (law) prosecution
Derived terms
Translations
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /deːˈfen.se/, [d̪eːˈfẽːs̠ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /deˈfen.se/, [d̪eˈfɛnse]
Participle
dēfēnse
- vocative masculine singular of dēfēnsus
Portuguese
Verb
defense
- inflection of defensar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /deˈfense/ [d̪eˈfẽn.se]
- Rhymes: -ense
- Syllabification: de‧fen‧se
Verb
defense
- inflection of defensar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative