defence

American  

[dih-fens] / dɪˈfɛns /

noun

defenced, defencing

1. British. variant of defense.

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defence British  

/ dɪˈfɛns /

noun

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. 1. a country's military measures or resources

   2. ( as modifier )

      defence spending

5. law a defendant's denial of the truth of the allegations or charge against him

6. law the defendant and his legal advisers collectively Compare prosecution

7. sport

   1. the action of protecting oneself, one's goal, or one's allotted part of the playing area against an opponent's attacks

   2. the method of doing this

   3. the players in a team whose function is to do this

8. American football (usually preceded by the)

   1. the team that does not have possession of the ball

   2. the members of a team that play in such circumstances

9. psychoanal See defence mechanism

10. (plural) fortifications

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• defenceless
  adjective
• defenceable
  adjective
• defencelessness
  noun
• predefence
  noun
• defencelessly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of defence

C13: from Old French, from Late Latin dēfensum, past participle of dēfendere to _defend

Compare meaning

How does defence compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• offence vs. defence

Explanation

This word does NOT mean taking down a fence; it is the British spelling of "defense" — a word that means the act of protecting or defending. Wearing garlic around your neck might be your defence against vampires. Defence can be verbal as well as physical. If you're in court charged with a crime, you (and your lawyer, if you have one) are called "the defence." If your only defence is that you were sleepwalking when you robbed a gas station, you might be going away for awhile. If you play defence in a team sport, your main job is to keep the other team from scoring (so stay wide awake).

Example Sentences

Ministers will use national security exemptions to give priority to British companies over foreign ones when awarding defence contracts, Defence Secretary John Healey has said.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

"There are still aftershocks, so the rescuers are very cautious in their approach. That's a challenge," said regional civil defence chief Rodrigo Sosmena.

From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026

Healey added that if a defence contract is "sent overseas", the industry will be required to create jobs in the UK, in what he called a "British offset".

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

Back then, it was a way of "resetting" Franco-German relations and pooling what were, at the time, more "limited" financial resources in terms of defence expenditure, Bergs explained.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

Meanwhile, the lot of widows and homeless children is very hard, and it is to their defence, not God’s, that the self-righteous should rush.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel