defence

[dih-fens]

noun

defenced, defencing 

1. British.,  variant of defense.

defence

/ 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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of defence¹

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

Example Sentences

"Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends. It is clear we need to toughen our defences against Russia," Kallas told reporters in Brussels.

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Israel's defence minister on Wednesday threatened to restart the offensive if Hamas did not honour the deal.

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In its defence filed at the High Court, the BBC said it denied that he "has suffered any distress or harassment" as a result of its responses to his requests.

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Judge Lynch said he had listened "very carefully" to two days of legal arguments on the defence application to dismiss.

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"The main topic of discussion is Tomahawks. Of course, there is also the issue of Patriots," the source said, referring to US air defence batteries.

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