public defender

American

noun

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.

public defender British

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

public defender Cultural

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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

public defenders

plural

Etymology

Origin of public defender

First recorded in 1915–20

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.

See Examples For:

public defender

He is now being represented by a public defender and is due back in court on 19 October.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

She hopes to one day work as a public defender and wanted to see Banks’ defense in action.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

The switch marks the second time this year the public defender has subbed in for a high-powered attorney in an L.A. celebrity murder trial.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

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

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

She sat across the table from her public defender, a massive man in a rumpled suit named Randall Stubbs.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023