defence

American  

[dih-fens] / dɪˈfɛns /

noun

defenced, defencing

1. British. variant of defense.

---

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

---

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

She denied all the charges against her but her defence counsel said she now "respects those verdicts".

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026

Saints, with defence coach Lee Radford on his way to Scotland at the end of the season, have conceded more tries than any other side in the top six.

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026

Civil defence teams evacuated around 500 families from schools that had been converted into shelters and transferred them to the city's Christian quarter, which was not included in the warning, an AFP correspondent said.

From Barron's • Jun. 7, 2026

Volkswagen has confirmed it is in talks with defence companies about taking over one of its smaller plants in the city of Osnabrueck, where production is due to end as part of its cost-cutting drive.

From Barron's • Jun. 7, 2026

For their defence in the night the Company climbed to the top of the small hill under which they had been sheltering.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien