defend
verb (used with object)
to ward off attack from; guard against assault or injury (usually followed by from oragainst ).
had defended
-
past perfectof defend.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
"But when we began to become competitive... those who had defended free trade became protectionists," he complained.
From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026
But given that minsters had defended the policy in the 14 months since last year's Budget, the questions are: Why change it?
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
The Indian government had defended Sahyog, saying that it was necessary due to the "growing volume of unlawful and harmful content" on social media.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025
Prior to the interview, Ebert had defended the song structurally.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2025
We had defended ourselves since memory against everything and everybody, considered all speech a code to be broken by us, and all gestures subject to careful analysis; we had become headstrong, devious and arrogant.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
