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

Holdo did not make a statement at his sentencing, and his public defender, June Woo Chung, declined to comment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

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

Natali Ray’s children say they learned of their mom’s November 19 arrest at L’Auberge Provençale when a Virginia public defender called.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

Parry: Well, I’ve been a public defender here for a little under four years, and in just four years I’ve seen the type of violence increase and the amount of violence increase.

From "Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago" by LeAlan Jones