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]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

on the defensive

Buckingham Palace is "on the defensive", the i Paper reports.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

This season combines two books from Mick Herron’s best-selling series, “Joe Country” and “Slough House,” and finds Jackson Lamb & Co. on the defensive as someone’s killing off Slow Horses past and present.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

By the time he debuted as a freshman at DeSoto, coaches already trusted him to run choice routes, which gives the receiver multiple different options based on the defensive alignment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

Creators found themselves on the defensive after attending an OpenAI event at Wildflower Farms, a resort in Hudson Valley, N.Y., where they received monogrammed pajamas and OpenAI-branded honey.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

But off camera, his confidence was paper-thin, and he could be quickly thrown on the defensive.

From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge

Related Words

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