on the defensive

Idioms  

1. Prepared for withstanding aggression or attack, as in The debate team's plan was to keep their opponents on the defensive, or This teacher put students on the defensive about their mistakes. [c. 1600]

---

Example Sentences

“I think we’re still continuing to get better in that… It’s not about whether shots go in. It’s about how we’re consistently playing and on the defensive end.”

From Los Angeles Times

“I think the effort part has been there very consistently for weeks now. Sometimes when the games are stacked together and travel and all that, there can be some small details, execution-wise, that can have slippage, and I think for us, especially on the defensive end, we can do some things better. But I mean, look, the last 16 games we are where we are because we’ve been really good on both ends.”

From Los Angeles Times

"This basically means that if the war continues, coalition aircraft have to fly deeper into Iranian airspace -- and on the defensive side it means absorbing more Iranian missiles and drones," one of the co-authors, US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jahara Matisek, told AFP.

From Barron's

Business in the Front: OpenAI’s top executives are finalizing plans for a major strategy shift to refocus the company around coding and business users, recognizing that a “do everything all at once” strategy has put them on the defensive.

From The Wall Street Journal

However, with his broken season and Tuchel previously saying that Alexander-Arnold "relies heavily on his offensive contributions and gives not so much emphasis on the defensive discipline and effort" it was always going to be a tough ask.

From BBC

Related Words

• anxious
• apprehensive
• cautious
• edgy
• nervous
• uneasy