defend

See also: defënd and défend

English

Etymology

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2=gʷʰen
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(deprecated template usage)

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English defenden, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French deffendre (Modern: défendre), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin dēfendō (“to ward off”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-.

Pronunciation

Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɛnd/
Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA^(key): /dɛˈfɛnd/, /diˈfɛnd/, /dəˈfɛnd/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛnd

Verb

defend (third-person singular simple present defends, present participle defending, simple past and past participle defended)

(transitive) To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard.
- 2019 July 15, Greg Afinogenov, “The Jewish Case for Open Borders”, in Jewish Currents‎^[1], number Summer 2019:
  Most Zionists hoped for a state of their own, but early in the 20th century, writers like Hillel Solotaroff and Chaim Zhitlowsky, both Yiddish-speaking immigrant intellectuals in New York, imagined another alternative: a federation of self-governing anarchist communes in Palestine that would defend Jewish life without relying on state power.
(transitive) To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.
(transitive, law) To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).
- 2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in Guardian:
  Philip Miles, defending, said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."
(sports) To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.
(sports) To attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one did in the previous edition of that competition.
(poker slang) To call a raise from the big blind.
(transitive, obsolete) To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:
  The vertue is, that neither steele, nor stone / The stroke thereof from entrance may defend […].
(transitive, obsolete) To prevent, to keep (from doing something).
(transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To prohibit, forbid.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII:
  :
  Broder said sir launcelot wete ye wel I am ful lothe to departe oute of this realme / but the quene hath defended me soo hyhely / that me semeth she wille neuer be my good lady as she hath ben

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:defend

Antonyms

attack

Related terms

Translations

ward off attacks against

Albanian: mbroj (sq)
Arabic: دَافَعَ (ar) (dāfaʕa)
Egyptian Arabic: حامى (ḥāma)
Armenian: պաշտպանել (hy) (paštpanel)
Aromanian: apãr
Azerbaijani: qorumaq (az), müdafiə etmək
Belarusian: абараня́ць impf (abaranjácʹ), абарані́ць pf (abaranícʹ)
Bengali: রক্ষা করা (rokkha kora)
Bulgarian: защита́вам impf (zaštitávam), браня́ (bg) impf (branjá)
Burmese: ကာကွယ် (my) (ka-kwai)
Catalan: defensar (ca), defendre (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 保衛／保卫 (zh) (bǎowèi), 保卫 (zh) (bǎowèi), 守衛／守卫 (zh) (shǒuwèi), 守卫 (zh) (shǒuwèi), 捍衛／捍卫 (zh) (hànwèi), 捍卫 (zh) (hànwèi)
Czech: bránit (cs)
Dalmatian: defendar
Danish: forsvare
Dutch: verdedigen (nl)
Esperanto: defendi, protekti
Estonian: kaitsma
Finnish: puolustaa (fi)
French: défendre (fr)
Galician: defender (gl)
Georgian: დაცვა (dacva), მოგერიება (mogerieba)
German: verteidigen (de)
Greek: υπερασπίζομαι (el) (yperaspízomai), αμύνομαι (el) (amýnomai), υπεραμύνομαι (el) (yperamýnomai)
Haitian Creole: defann
Hebrew: הֵגֵן (he) (hegén)
Hindi: रक्षा करना (rakṣā karnā)
Hungarian: megvéd (hu)
Icelandic: verja (is)
Irish: cosain
Italian: difendere (it)
Japanese: 守る (ja) (まもる, mamoru), 防ぐ (ja) (ふせぐ, fusegu)
Kazakh: қорғау (kk) (qorğau)
Khmer: ការពារ (km) (kaa piə)
Korean: 방어하다 (ko) (bang'eohada)
Kyrgyz: коргоо (ky) (korgoo)
Lao: ປ້ອງກັນ (pǭng kan)
(deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
Latin: dēfendō, teneō (la), tutor, tueor, supersum (la), defensō
Latvian: aizstāvēt
Lithuanian: ginti
Macedonian: брани impf (brani), заштитува impf (zaštituva)
Malay: membela
Maori: wawao, whakangungu, whakawawao
Mongolian: хамгаалах (mn) (xamgaalax)
Norman: d'fendre
Norwegian: forsvare (no), verne, beskytte
Occitan: defendre (oc)
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: бранити impf (braniti)
Old English: bewerian
Pashto: مدافعه کول (modāfe'akawᶕl)
Persian: دفاع کردن (fa) (defâ' kardan)
Polish: bronić (pl) impf
Portuguese: defender (pt), proteger (pt)
Quechua: amachay
Romanian: apăra (ro)
Russian: защища́ть (ru) impf (zaščiščátʹ), защити́ть (ru) pf (zaščitítʹ), обороня́ть (ru) impf (oboronjátʹ), оборони́ть (ru) pf (oboronítʹ), оберега́ть (ru) impf (oberegátʹ), бере́чь (ru) impf (beréčʹ)
Sanskrit: रक्षति (sa) (rakṣati)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: бранити impf

Roman: braniti (sh) impf
Slovak: brániť impf
Slovene: braniti (sl) impf
Spanish: defender (es)
Swedish: försvara (sv)
Tajik: муҳофизат кардан (muhofizat kardan), дифоъ кардан (difoʾ kardan)
Thai: ป้องกัน (th) (bpɔ̂ng-gan)
Turkish: savunmak (tr), korumak (tr)
Turkmen: goramak, penalamak
Ukrainian: обороня́ти impf (oboronjáty), оборони́ти pf (oboronýty), захища́ти impf (zaxyščáty), захисти́ти pf (zaxystýty)
Urdu: دفاع کرنا (difā' karnā)
Uyghur: مۇداپىئە قىلماق (mudapi'e qilmaq)
Uzbek: himoya qilmoq, mudofaa qilmoq
Vietnamese: bảo vệ (vi), trông coi (vi) (In the sense of watching over)

Anagrams

fended