defense

English Online Dictionary. What means defense‎? What does defense mean?

English

Alternative forms

• defence (British)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɛns/
• (sports): (US, often) IPA^(key): /ˈdiːˌfɛns/
• Rhymes: -ɛns

Etymology 1

From Middle English defens, defense, from Old French defens, defense, from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“protection”). Displaced native Old English bewering. The verb is from the noun.

Noun

defense (countable and uncountable, plural defenses) (American spelling)

1. The action of defending or protecting from attack, danger, or injury.
2. Anything employed to oppose attack(s).
   1. (team sports) A strategy and tactics employed to prevent the other team from scoring; contrasted with offense.
   2. (team sports) The portion of a team dedicated to preventing the other team from scoring; contrasted with offense.
3. An argument in support or justification of something.

   to come to someone's defense

   1. (law, by extension) The case presented by the defendant in a legal proceeding.
   2. (law, by extension) The lawyer or team thereof who presents such a case.
4. (government, military, euphemistic) Government policy or (infra)structure related to the military.

   Department of Defense

5. (obsolete) A prohibition; a prohibitory ordinance.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defense

Antonyms

• offense
• (law) prosecution

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

defense (third-person singular simple present defenses, present participle defensing, simple past and past participle defensed)

1. (sports, chiefly US) To employ defensive tactics (so as to block). [from 1932]

Etymology 2

From Middle English defencen, defensen, from Old French defenser or its etymon, Latin dēfēnsō.

Verb

defense (third-person singular simple present defenses, present participle defensing, simple past and past participle defensed)

1. (now rare) To furnish with defenses; to defend, protect.

References

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /deːˈfen.se/, [d̪eːˈfẽːs̠ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /deˈfen.se/, [d̪eˈfɛnse]

Participle

dēfēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of dēfēnsus

Portuguese

Verb

defense

1. inflection of defensar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deˈfense/ [d̪eˈfẽn.se]
• Rhymes: -ense
• Syllabification: de‧fen‧se

Verb

defense

1. inflection of defensar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative