defense

See also: défense

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/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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

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.
   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

• affirmative defense
• antidefense
• attack is the best form of defense
• chemical defense
• Chewbacca defense
• civil defense
• defense attorney
• defense in abatement
• defense in depth
• defense lawyer
• defense mechanism
• defense wound
• defense-independent pitching statistics
• defenseless
• defensive
• defensiveness
• eco-defense
• ecodefense
• gay panic defense
• homosexual panic defense
• man-to-man defense
• Matrix defense
• Nuremberg defense
• orbital defense platform
• Pac-Man defense
• passive defense
• personal defense weapon
• prevent defense
• self-defense
• self-defense wound
• Shaggy defense
• space defense
• special defense
• the best defense is a good offense
• thesis defense
• tower defense
• zone defense

 

Translations

action of protecting from attack

• Afrikaans: verdediging
• Albanian: mbrojtje (sq) f
• Arabic: دِفَاع‎ (ar) m (difāʕ), حِمَايَة‎ f (ḥimāya), مُحَافَظَة‎ (ar) f (muḥāfaẓa)
• Armenian: պաշտպանություն (hy) (paštpanutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: müdafiə (az)
• Belarusian: абаро́на f (abaróna), ахо́ва (be) f (axóva)
• Bengali: রক্ষা (rokṣa)
• Bulgarian: защи́та (bg) f (zaštíta), отбра́на (bg) f (otbrána)
• Burmese: ကာကွယ်ရေး (my) (ka-kwaire:)
• Catalan: defensa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 防禦／防御 (zh) (fángyù)

• Czech: obrana (cs) f
• Danish: forsvar
• Dutch: verdediging (nl) f, weer (nl) f
• Esperanto: defendo
• Estonian: kaitse
• Faroese: verja
• Finnish: puolustautuminen, puolustus (fi)
• French: défense (fr) f
• Georgian: თავდაცვა (tavdacva), მოგერიება (mogerieba)
• German: Verteidigung (de) f, Wehr (de) f
• Greek: άμυνα (el) f (ámyna)
• Hebrew: הֲגָנָה \ הֲגַנָּה‎ (he) f (hagana) (action of protecting someone), התגוננות‎ f (hitgonenut) (action of protecting oneself)
• Hindi: बचाव (hi) (bacāv), रक्षा (hi) f (rakṣā)
• Hungarian: védelem (hu), védekezés (hu), védés
• Icelandic: vörn f
• Ido: defenso (io)
• Indonesian: pertahanan (id)
• Irish: cosaint f
• Italian: difesa (it) f
• Japanese: 防御 (ja) (ぼうぎょ, bōgyo), 防禦 (ja) (ぼうぎょ, bōgyo)
• Kazakh: қорғаныс (qorğanys), қорғану (qorğanu)
• Khmer: ការពារ (km) (kaa piə),
• Korean: 방어(防禦) (ko) (bang'eo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بەرگْری‎ (ku) (bergirî)

• Kyrgyz: коргонуу (ky) (korgonuu), коргоо (ky) (korgoo)
• Lao: ການຫ້າມປາມ (kān hām pām)
• Latvian: aizsardzība f
• Lithuanian: gynyba f
• Macedonian: одбрана f (odbrana)
• Malay: pertahanan
• Maori: waonga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сэргийлэл (mn) (sergiilel)

• Norman: d'fense f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forsvar n

  Nynorsk: forsvar n

• Occitan: defensa (oc) f
• Old English: bewering f
• Pashto: دفاع‎ (ps) (defā')
• Persian: دفاع‎ (fa) (defâ'), پدافند‎ (fa) (padâfand), حمایت‎ (fa) (hemâyat), محافظت‎ (fa) (mohâfazat)
• Polish: obrona (pl) f
• Portuguese: defesa (pt) f
• Quechua: amachay
• Romanian: apărare (ro) f
• Russian: оборо́на (ru) f (oboróna), защи́та (ru) f (zaščíta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏дбрана f, о̏брана f

  Roman: ȍdbrana (sh) f, ȍbrana (sh) f

• Sinhalese: ආරක්ෂක (ārakṣaka)
• Slovak: obrana f
• Slovene: obramba (sl) f
• Spanish: defensa (es) f
• Swedish: försvar (sv) n
• Tajik: дифоъ (difoʾ), мудофиа (mudofia), ҳимоя (himoya), муҳофиза (muhofiza), муҳофизат (tg) (muhofizat)
• Thai: การป้องกัน (th) (gaan-bpɔ̂ng-gan)
• Turkish: savunma (tr), koruma (tr)
• Ukrainian: оборо́на (uk) f (oboróna), за́хист (uk) m (záxyst)
• Urdu: رکشا‎ f (rakṣā), دفاع‎ (difā')
• Uyghur: ھىمايە‎ (himaye), مۇداپىئە‎ (mudapi'e)
• Uzbek: himoya (uz), mudofaa (uz)
• Vietnamese: cái để bảo vệ
• Yiddish: פֿאַרטיידיקונג‎ f (farteydikung)

anything employed to oppose attack

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: պաշտպանություն (hy) (paštpanutʿyun)
• Bulgarian: отбра́на (bg) (otbrána), отбранителни съоръжени pl (otbranitelni sǎorǎženi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 防禦物／防御物 (fángyùwù)

• Czech: obrana (cs) f
• Danish: forsvar
• Dutch: verdediging (nl) f, verweer (nl) n
• Faroese: verja
• Finnish: puolustus (fi)
• Georgian: თავდაცვა (tavdacva)
• German: Verteidigung (de) f
• Greek: άμυνα (el) f (ámyna)
• Hebrew: הגנה‎ (he) f (hagana)
• Hungarian: védelem (hu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بەرگری‎ (ku) (bergrî)

• Latin: mūnīmen n, mūnīmentum n
• Macedonian: одбрана f (odbrana)
• Maori: whakarurunga
• Old English: bewering f
• Polish: obrona (pl) f
• Portuguese: defesa (pt) f, escudo (pt) m
• Romanian: apărare (ro) f
• Russian: защи́та (ru) f (zaščíta), оборо́на (ru) f (oboróna), оборони́тельные сооруже́ния n pl (oboronítelʹnyje sooružénija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏дбрана f, о̏брана f

  Roman: ȍdbrana (sh) f, ȍbrana (sh) f

• Spanish: defensa (es) f
• Swedish: försvar (sv) n

team sports: strategy and tactics

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: պաշտպանություն (hy) (paštpanutʿyun)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: obrana (cs) f
• Finnish: puolustus (fi)
• Hungarian: védelem (hu), védekezés (hu)
• Portuguese: retranca (pt) f
• Romanian: apărare (ro) f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

team sports: portion of a team

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: պաշտպանություն (hy) (paštpanutʿyun)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 防守 (zh) (fángshǒu)

• Czech: obrana (cs) f
• Finnish: puolustus (fi)
• Hungarian: védelem (hu)
• Romanian: apărare (ro) f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

argument in support or justification of something

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: obrana (cs) f
• Dutch: verweer (nl) n
• Finnish: puolustus (fi), puolustelu (fi)
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐍉𐌽𐍃 f (sunjōns)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀπολογία f (apología)

• Hungarian: védés, védekezés (hu), védelem (hu)
• Italian: difesa (it) f
• Macedonian: одбрана f (odbrana)
• Polish: obrona (pl) f
• Portuguese: defesa (pt) f
• Romanian: apărare (ro) f
• Russian: защи́та (ru) f (zaščíta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏дбрана f, о̏брана f

  Roman: ȍdbrana (sh) f, ȍbrana (sh) f

• Spanish: descargo (es)
• Swedish: försvar (sv) n
• Urdu: صَفائی‎ f (ṣafā'ī)

government policy or structure

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: obrana (cs) f
• Finnish: puolustus (fi), maanpuolustus (fi)
• Georgian: თავდაცვა (tavdacva), თავდაცვის სამინისტრო (tavdacvis saminisṭro)
• Malayalam: പ്രതിരോധം (ml) (pratirōdhaṃ)
• Old English: utwaru f, wiþermal n
• Romanian: apărare (ro) f
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

prohibitory ordinance

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: zákaz (cs) m
• Finnish: kielto (fi)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Latin

Pronunciation

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

Participle

dēfēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of dēfēnsus

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