defendant
Americannoun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of defendant
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English defendaunt, from Anglo-French ( Middle French, Old French defendant ). See defend, -ant
Explanation
In court, the person who gets sued or accused is called a defendant — they have to defend their innocence or reputation. One thing no one wants to be is a defendant: that means someone sued you, which could cost you a boatload of money. Other defendants are accused of crimes, which is even worse, because you could end up in jail. Turn on any TV show about lawyers, and you'll see some of them defending the defendant, and others trying to convict the defendant. Defendants are definitely on the defensive.
Vocabulary lists containing defendant
Monster
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 6
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Excerpts from "Jacobson v. Massachusetts"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A 24-year-old defendant, taken to Syria by his mother more than 10 years ago, was given 15 years.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
Meta confirmed a settlement with KDB on Friday, after previously settling with SJ, which left Snap as the sole defendant in the case which consolidated claims from two lawsuits.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
The defendant no longer works as a solicitor.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
David Hemingson, the creator of ABC’s “Whiskey Cavalier” and a veteran television writer for shows including “Kitchen Confidential” and “How I Met Your Mother,” was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
“The defendant has decided to confess. That will happen first.”
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Fewer than half of the French defendants have appeared so far.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2026
The judge wrote that Trump's legal team did not prove that the defendants made defamatory statements with "actual malice", which the law requires be proven.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Lawyers for all seven defendants have denied the allegations.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026
Bonta alleges in the lawsuit that defendants have “repeatedly, consistently, and pervasively failed to lawfully manage hazardous waste” at the landfill located on Henry Mayo Drive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
She saw herself as tough, and so did defendants.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
