defence

[ dih-fens ]

noun

, de·fenced, de·fenc·ing.

1. British. variant of defense.

defence

/ dɪˈfɛns /

noun

1. resistance against danger, attack, or harm; protection
2. a person or thing that provides such resistance
3. a plea, essay, speech, etc, in support of something; vindication; justification
4. 1. a country's military measures or resources
   2. ( as modifier )

      defence spending

5. law a defendant's denial of the truth of the allegations or charge against him
6. law the defendant and his legal advisers collectively Compare prosecution
7. sport
   1. the action of protecting oneself, one's goal, or one's allotted part of the playing area against an opponent's attacks
   2. the method of doing this
   3. the players in a team whose function is to do this
8. American football usually preceded by the
   1. the team that does not have possession of the ball
   2. the members of a team that play in such circumstances
9. psychoanal See defence mechanism
10. plural fortifications

Derived Forms

• deˈfencelessly, adverb
• deˈfenceless, adjective
• deˈfencelessness, noun

Other Words From

• de·fencea·ble adjective
• de·fenceless adjective
• de·fenceless·ly adverb
• de·fenceless·ness noun
• prede·fence noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of defence¹

C13: from Old French, from Late Latin dēfensum, past participle of dēfendere to defend

Example Sentences

Mr MacDonald denies all the charges and has lodged a special defence to the murder charge claiming he was suffering from abnormality of mind.

From BBC

The defence counsel said: "He could not get away from this fixation that the osteopath caused him permanent damage."

From BBC

According to the Haaretz newspaper, he was once active in the US-based Jewish Defence League, the organisation founded by far-right rabbi Meir Kahane.

From BBC

John Bolton, who served as Trump's national security adviser, told the BBC that the post of defence secretary should never be a "loyalty appointment".

From BBC

During his first term, Trump himself turned to those with more military and national security experience than Hegseth, such as Secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark Esper - who both served for decades in the military and were well known in Washington's defence community.

From BBC