public defender

American  

noun

public defenders plural

1. a lawyer appointed or elected by a city or county as a full-time, official defender to represent indigents in criminal cases at public expense.

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public defender British  

noun

1. (in the US) a lawyer engaged at public expense to represent indigent defendants

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public defender Cultural  

1. An attorney who is appointed and paid by a court to defend poor persons who cannot afford a lawyer.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• public defenders
  plural

Etymology

Origin of public defender

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

public defender

Look, Judge Freeman was a federal public defender for 13 years.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

Tapp remained a strong public defender of Sir Keir until he set out his resignation plans on Monday.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

His U.S. public defender didn’t respond to requests for comment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

He came west in 2003 and became a deputy public defender in courthouses throughout Los Angeles County.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

As one public defender explained, “The kids come in with their parents, who want to get this dealt with as quickly as possible, and they say, ‘You did it, admit it.’

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander