English Dictionary
Definition of “defence”
defence or US defense(dɪˈfɛns
)
Definitions
noun
- resistance against danger, attack, or harm; protection
- a person or thing that provides such resistance
- a plea, essay, speech, etc, in support of something; vindication; justification
- a country's military measures or resources
- ((as modifier) ⇒
defence spending
- law a defendant's denial of the truth of the allegations or charge against him
- law the defendant and his legal advisers collectively Compare prosecution
- sport
- the action of protecting oneself, one's goal, or one's allotted part of the playing area against an opponent's attacks
- the method of doing this
- See the defence
- American football (usually preceded by the)
- the team that does not have possession of the ball
- the members of a team that play in such circumstances
- psychoanalysis See defence mechanism
- (plural) fortifications
Alternative Forms
deˈfenceless deˈfenseless adjective deˈfencelessly deˈfenselessly adverb deˈfencelessness deˈfenselessness noun Word Origin
C13: from Old French, from Late Latin dēfensum, past participle of dēfendere to defend
Synonyms
View thesaurus entry
=
argument,
explanation,
excuse,
plea,
apology,
justification,
vindication,
rationalization,
apologia,
exoneration,
exculpation,
extenuation,
=
plea,
case,
claim,
pleading,
declaration,
testimony,
denial,
alibi,
vindication,
rebuttal,
Translations
- British English:
defence
Defence is action taken to protect someone or something from attack.The architecture was designed with defence in mind.dɪˈfɛns NOUN The architecture was designed with defence in mind.
- Spanish:
defensa
nf
- French:
défense
nf
- German:
Verteidigung
nf
- Chinese: 防守 n
- Arabic: دِفَاع n
- Portuguese: defesa nf
- Russian: защита nf
- Croatian: obrana nf
- Czech: obrana nf
- Danish: forsvar nnt
- Dutch: verdediging nf
- Finnish: puolustus n
- Greek: άμυνα nf
- Italian: difesa nf
- Japanese: 防御 n
- Korean: 수비 n
- Norwegian: forsvar nnt
- Polish: obrona nf
- Brazilian Portuguese: defesa nf
- European Spanish:
defensa
nf
- Swedish: försvar nnt
- Thai: การป้องกัน n
- Turkish: savunma n
- Vietnamese: sự phòng thủ n
Usage examples
He'd sprung to the defence of his beloved Manchester City with the ardour of an Italian whose mother's honour has been impugned.
Val McDermid, DEAD BEAT (2002)Chris Foss, of the industry publication Jane's Defence Weekly, also questions the viability of such a defence.
New Scientist (2004)McCarthy, along with Stephen Paisley magnificent in the heart of the Irish defence , won a header on half-way to get the ball to Thornton.
Irish Times (2002)It was all Arbroath, but the Berwick defence weathered the storm and kept the score sheet blank at half time.
Glasgow Herald (2001)Sisters too can play a part in determining whether a girl turns to anorexia as a defence.
Dorothy Rowe, BEYOND FEAR (2002)
