defense

See also défense

English

Alternative forms

• defence (Commonwealth)

Etymology

From the French défense, itself from Latin defensa, "protection".

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /dɛˈfɛns/
• (US) IPA: /diˈfɛns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (sports): (US, often) IPA: /ˈdi fɛns/

• Rhymes: -ɛns

Noun

defense (plural defenses) (US)

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.
4. Government policy or structure related to the military.

   Department of Defense

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:defense

Antonyms

• offense

Derived terms

• antidefense
• ecodefense
• Nuremberg defense
• defensive
• defensiveness

Translations

action of protecting from attack

Bulgarian: защита (bg), отбрана (bg) Catalan: defensa (ca) f. Chinese: 防御 (fángyù) Croatian: ȍbrana (hr) f. Czech: obrana (cs) f. Danish: forsvar Dutch: verdediging (nl) f. Esperanto: defendo (eo) Faroese: verja (fo) Finnish: puolustautuminen, puolustus (fi) French: défense (fr) f. German: Verteidigung (de) f. Greek: άμυνα (el) f. (ámyna) Hebrew: הגנה (hagana) f. (action of protecting someone); התגוננות (hitgonenut) f. (action of protecting oneself)

Hungarian: védelem (hu) Italian: difesa (it) f. Japanese: 防御, 防禦 (ぼうぎょ, bōgyo) Korean: 방어 (bang-eo) Kurdish: به‌رگری Norwegian: forsvar Persian: دفاع (fa) Polish: obrona (pl) f. Portuguese: defesa (pt) f. Russian: защита (ru) (zaščíta) f., оборона (ru) (oboróna) f. Spanish: defensa (es) f.

anything employed to oppose attack

Bulgarian: отбрана, отбранителни съоръжени Croatian: ȍbrana (hr) f. Czech: obrana (cs) f. Danish: forsvar Faroese: verja (fo) Finnish: puolustus (fi) German: Verteidigung (de) f.

Greek: άμυνα (el) f. (ámyna) Hebrew: הגנה (hagana) f. Kurdish: به‌رگری Polish: obrona (pl) f. Portuguese: defesa (pt) f., escudo (pt) m. Russian: защита (ru) (zaščíta) f., оборона (ru) (oboróna) f. Spanish: defensa (es) f.

argument in support or justification of something

Croatian: ȍbrana (hr) f. Dutch: verweer (nl) n. Finnish: puolustus (fi), puolustelu (fi)

Polish: obrona (pl) f. Portuguese: defesa (pt) f. Russian: защита (ru) (zaščíta) f.

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Latin

Participle

dēfense

1. vocative masculine singular of dēfensus