defendant

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• defendaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From defend +‎ -ant

Pronunciation

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Noun

defendant (plural defendants)

1. (law) In civil proceedings, the party responding to the complaint; one who is sued and called upon to make satisfaction for a wrong complained of by another.
2. (law) In criminal proceedings, the accused.

Related terms

• respondent

Translations

person prosecuted or sued

Arabic: مدعى عليه (ar) (mudda`iy `alayhi) m. Bulgarian: обвиняем (bg) m., ответник (bg) m. Chinese: Mandarin: trad. and simpl. 被告 (pinyin: bèigào) Czech: obžalovaný m., obviněný m., žalovaný m. Finnish: vastaaja (fi) French: inculpé (fr), défendeur (fr) Greek: εναγόμενος (enagomenos), κατηγορούμενος (katigoroumenos) German: Angeklagter m., Angeklagte f. Hebrew: נאשם (ne'esham) m., נאשמת (ne'eshemet) f.

Interlingua: accusato Japanese: 被告 (ひこく hikoku) Polish: oskarżony (pl) m. Portuguese: réu m., ré f.; acusado m., acusada f. Russian: обвиняемый (ru) (obvinjájemyj) m., ответчик (ru) (otvétčik) m., подсудимый (ru) (podsudímyj) m. Serbian: branjenik m., branjenica f. Slovene: obtoženi m., obtožena f. Spanish: acusado (es) m.

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Latin

Verb

dēfendant

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of dēfendō
   1. "may they drive away"
   2. "may they defend, may they guard, may they protect"