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

During her decade as a public defender in Arctic Alaska, Rebecca Wright Stevens found the summer’s constant sunlight more unsettling than the winter’s constant darkness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 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

My grandmother—besieged yet again, and now with doubled ferocity—assumed the role of public defender for Jagu.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee