defenseman

[ dih-fens-muhn, -man ]

noun

, Sports.

, plural de·fense·men [dih-, fens, -m, uh, n, -men].

1. a player in certain games, as ice hockey or lacrosse, who lines up in a defensive zone or position.

Word History and Origins

Origin of defenseman¹

First recorded in 1890–95; defense + man

Example Sentences

An entire condensed-schedule season later, and the numbers don’t make a strong argument for those defensemen to continue to get extended ice time.

From FiveThirtyEight

When Peter Laviolette met with Zdeno Chara in the offseason, before the 44-year-old defenseman was officially part of the Washington Capitals, there were no expectations about the upcoming season, no X’s and O’s drawn out.

From Washington Post

He’s also an excellent defenseman, having led the NL in steals.

From Ozy

Grill, a 5-foot-8 defenseman, also wasn’t heavily recruited, and he landed with the Golden Eagles, too.

From Washington Post

Anyway, moving on to the Norris Trophy for best defenseman, I think this is a really interesting race.

From FiveThirtyEight