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defense

[dih-fens or, especially for 7, 9, dee-fens]

noun

resistance against attack; protection: Two more regiments are needed for the defense of the city.

something that defends, as a fortification, physical or mental quality, or medication: This fort was once the main defense of the island.

the defending of a cause or the like by speech, argument, etc.: He spoke in defense of the nation's foreign policy.

a speech, argument, etc., in vindication: She delivered a defense of free enterprise.

Law.

the denial or pleading of the defendant in answer to the claim or charge that has been made.

the proceedings adopted by a defendant, or the defendant's legal agents, for defending against the charges that have been made.

a defendant and his or her counsel.

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Psychology. defense mechanism (def. 2).

Sports.

the practice or art of defending oneself or one's goal against attack, as in fencing, boxing, soccer, or football.

the team attempting to thwart the attack of the team having the ball or puck.

the players of a team who line up in their own defensive zone.

the positions on the field, ice, etc., taken by such players.

(initial capital letter

) Also called Defense Department. Informal. the Department of Defense.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object)

Sports. to defend against (an opponent, play, or tactic).

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Defense is always a great word to know.

So is probation. Does it mean:

the act of a court in making an order, judgment, or decree; a judicial decision or sentence

a method of dealing with offenders guilty of minor crimes or first offenses, by allowing them to go at large under supervision of a probation officer

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Also, especially British, defence.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Late Latin dēfēnsa a forbidding, noun use of feminine of past participle of Latin dēfendere to defend; replacing Middle English defens < Anglo-French, Old French < Medieval Latin defēnsum (thing) forbidden, neuter past participle of Latin dēfendere

Related forms

de·fense·less, adjective

de·fense·less·ly, adverb

de·fense·less·ness, noun

non·de·fense, noun, adjective

pre·de·fense, noun

EXPAND

un·de·fensed, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. security, preservation, safeguard. 3. support, advocacy, justification.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To defense

Example Sentences

The real surprise came on the other side of the ball: a defense that finally showed it can take charge of a game.

Purdum's article didn't read as much of a defense to me.

Others can mutilate their own bodies as a defense mechanism.

EXPAND

The real surprise came on the other side of the ball: a defense that finally showed it can take charge of a game.

Purdum's article didn't read as much of a defense to me.

Others can mutilate their own bodies as a defense mechanism.

They have different origins and functions, and serve essential roles in plant growth, defense and reproduction.

He was charged with retaining national defense information.

Countries have their own peculiar accounting system for defense spending.

Sometimes the best defense isn't a good offense-it's a good diet.

US defense department has some explaining over why they expose their citizens to health risk.

Blue-throated males have smaller territories with only one female, and they cooperate with other blues for defense.

Wherever you garden, the best defense against cold damage is to choose trees and shrubs that are hardy in your climate zone.

Both statesman and soldier, his name can represent the diplomatic as well as military aspect of defense policy.

The best defense against any tsunami is early warning that allows people to seek higher ground.

When a bacterium enters the body, the first line of defense it encounters is the innate immune system.

Whatever your garden's size or style, good plant health is your first line of defense against potential problems of any kind.

Most countries would say that they need this fighter for their defense against their neighbours.

Musk-oxen show how they protect their own with a group defense.

In the case of malaria, however, that defense mechanism may backfire.

Hand pulling or hoeing is your first line of defense against weeds, especially annual and biennial kinds.

Exhibiting its main defense mechanism, a millipede curls into a tight spiral.

Well, this isn't going to be a defense strategy paper.

It does this by injecting toxins into defense cells such as macrophages that are tasked with detecting bacterial infections.

Defense contractors are notorious for bleeding the department of defense.

Because the prairie dog defense system is so good, predators frequently fail and must look elsewhere for dinner.

National defense is important but maybe are best defense isn't more missiles.

Prevention is the first defense against pest infestation in the kitchen.

The state is good at police work, defense and providing courts and should stick with its comparative advantage.

Kiger writes in defense of mad scientists everywhere.

Faced with so many predators, group defense may well be the best strategy for snakes.

One poster has been told he/she can't have the defense as planned and must go back and make lots of changes.

Full-bore federal-subsidised research on missile defense.

But this week the defense went after the missing woman's character, arguing that she.

Generally, none of this matters if your defense and graduation are within weeks of each other.

Each pledges not to hurt the other's people and to unite in defense against the other's enemies.

And the defense industry is now attempting to ride the publicity coattails of the movie's success, despite.

Completion of coursework, comps, and proposal defense.

Last week, at a defense trade show, the two firms showed off the results of their joint venture.

Indeed, he has only seen it in the context of recommendation requests since my defense two years ago.

Defense is surely focused on any type of minor discrepency.

The authors wouldn't need to be doing this public defense if they had more than one scrappy juvenile ilium to work from.

Her defense was that she didn't read the footnotes so it was ridiculous to think she would have noticed her own instructor's name.

Taking defense spending off the table is indefensible.

For slime molds, the best defense against the elements and their enemies is a retreat.

The defense at our grad school was a celebration in any case of a successful doctoral program of research and writing.

Don't forget all those defense jobs in the red districts/states.

Like a suit of medieval armor, the snail may use its metal scales as a defense against predatory attack.

The defense line had been drawn a few blocks west, where a buttress of solid stone buildings stood.

If a population is homogeneous, then it can only present a single uniform defense against this stress.

As other commenters have pointed out, the best defense is offense.

No defense budget could ever match nature's resources.

Their attempts to mount any real defense were hopeless.

Maybe that defense is successful and the population thrives.

We have previously suggested that a major sell off in the defense stocks could present a major buying.

In peppers, the defense mechanism appears to be targeted specifically at predators that don't benefit the plant.

What your mentors don't tell you is that the defense is not the culmination of some big project.

There is no honest cost/benefit or social ecology or other argument which can ever be made in defense of psychopaths.

Defense certainly has fat and the military idustrial complex has been basking in war dollars for the past ten years.

There is no rule that a program has to be larger than defense to be cut.

Physical defense of the motherland being case in the point.

Thus his priorities for economic development will focus on the defense industry as the main driver of the country's growth.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

defence or defense (dɪˈfɛns)

—n
1.	resistance against danger, attack, or harm; protection
2.	a person or thing that provides such resistance
3.	a plea, essay, speech, etc, in support of something; vindication; justification
4.	a. a country's military measures or resources
	b. (as modifier): defence spending
5.	law a defendant's denial of the truth of the allegations or charge against him
6.	law Compare prosecution the defendant and his legal advisers collectively
7.	sport
	a. the action of protecting oneself, one's goal, or one's allotted part of the playing area against an opponent's attacks
	b. the method of doing this
	c. the defence the players in a team whose function is to do this
8.	(usually preceded by the) American football
	a. the team that does not have possession of the ball
	b. the members of a team that play in such circumstances
9.	psychoanal See defence mechanism
10.	(plural) fortifications

[C13: from Old French, from Late Latin dēfensum, past participle of dēfendere to defend]

defense or defense

—n

[C13: from Old French, from Late Latin dēfensum, past participle of dēfendere to defend]

de'fenceless or defense

—*adj*

de'fenseless or defense

—*adj*

de'fencelessly or defense

—*adv*

de'fenselessly or defense

—*adv*

de'fencelessness or defense

—n

de'fenselessness or defense

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

defense

c.1300, from O.Fr. defens, from L. defensum "thing protected or forbidden," from neut. pp. of defendere "ward off, protect" (see defend). First used 1935 as a euphemism for "national military resources." Defense mechanism in psychology is from 1913.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

defense de·fense (dĭ-fěns')
n.
A means or method that helps protect the body or mind, as against disease or anxiety.

de·fen'sive (-fěn'sĭv) adj.

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line mound Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization palisade plea square

Matching Quote

"Of all my Russian books, The Defense contains and diffuses the greatest "warmth"Mwhich may seem odd seeing how supremely abstract chess is supposed to be."

-Vladimir Nabokov

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