defense
See also: défense
English
editAlternative forms
editPronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /dɪˈfɛns/
Audio (US): (file) - (sports): (US, often) IPA(key): /ˈdiːˌfɛns/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛns
Etymology 1
editFrom Middle English defens, defense, from Old French defens, defense, from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“protection”). Displaced native Old English bewering. The verb is from the noun.[1]
Noun
editdefense (countable and uncountable, plural defenses) (American spelling)
- The action of defending or protecting from attack, danger, or injury.
- Anything employed to oppose attack(s).
- An argument in support or justification of something.
- to come to someone's defense
- (government, military, euphemistic) Government policy or (infra)structure related to the military.
- Department of Defense
- (obsolete) A prohibition; a prohibitory ordinance.
Synonyms
edit- See also Thesaurus:defense
Antonyms
edit- offense
- (law) prosecution
Derived terms
edit- affirmative defense
- antidefense
- anti-slut defense
- attack is the best form of defense
- biodefense
- chemical defense
- Chewbacca defense
- civil defense
- counterdefense
- cyberdefense
- DEFCON
- defense attorney
- defense in abatement
- defense-independent pitching statistics
- defense in depth
- defense lawyer
- defenseless
- defense mechanism
- defense wound
- defensin
- defensive
- defensiveness
- eco-defense
- ecodefense
- gay panic defense
- homosexual panic defense
- immunodefense
- man-to-man defense
- Matrix defense
- misdefense
- nondefense
- Nuremberg defense
- orbital defense platform
- Pac-Man defense
- passive defense
- personal defense weapon
- prevent defense
- self-defense
- self-defense wound
- Shaggy defense
- space defense
- special defense
- the best defense is a good offense
- thesis defense
- tower defense
- trans panic defense
- zone defense
Translations
editaction of protecting from attack
|
anything employed to oppose attack
|
team sports: strategy and tactics
|
team sports: portion of a team
argument in support or justification of something
|
government policy or structure
|
prohibitory ordinance
Verb
editdefense (third-person singular simple present defenses, present participle defensing, simple past and past participle defensed)
- (sports, chiefly US)[1] To employ defensive tactics (so as to block). [from 1932][1]
- 1972, Robert Cimbollek, Basketball’s Percentage Offense, West Nyack, N.Y.: Parker Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 114:
- In fact, there is an increase in the effectiveness of the Five Cutter Offense when teams put pressure on, instead of sagging or switching in an attempt to defense the attack successfully.
- 2013 November 16, Brett Marshall, “The Garden City Telegram, Kan., Brett Marshall column”, in McClatchy - Tribune Business News, Tribune Content Agency:
- But the Buffs’ coaching staff made some adjustments in the way they defensed the Heights’ vaunted veer-option offense, and after being bullied around for 271 yards in the first half, yielded only 140 in the second half.
- 2014 November 28, Associated Press, “Vols beat Santa Clara, face Kansas”, in The Tennessean, page 2:
- “It was most important to start the second half right,” Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall said. “They dug in and defensed the right way.”
Etymology 2
editFrom Middle English defencen, defensen, from Old French defenser[2] or its etymon, Latin dēfēnsō.[1]
Verb
editdefense (third-person singular simple present defenses, present participle defensing, simple past and past participle defensed)
- (now rare)[1] To furnish with defenses; to defend, protect.
- 1544, Iames the Erle of Purlilia [i.e., Jacopo di Porcia], translated by Peter Betham, “What is to be done in yͤ syege of bygge cities”, in The Preceptes of Warre, […], London: […] Edwarde Whytchurche. […] to be solde […] by William Telotson:
- In the ſyege of greate cities, takyng a bygge compaſſe rounde abowte, we muſt wyth all laboure: make and intercut not farre of the citie, bꝛode and depe trenches defenſed wyth turrettes of woodde, […]
- 1587, George Turberuile, “The Argument to the tenth Historie”, in Tragicall Tales […], London: […] Abell Ieffs, […], folio 130, verso:
- VVhere being plaſt, vnvviſt of any vvight, / He ſtayde his time, till husband fel on ſleepe, / Then out he gate, defenſt vvith darke of night, / And ſoftly to Salueſtras bed did creepe: […]
- 1661, Percie Enderbie, Cambria Triumphans, or Brittain in Its Perfect Lustre, Shewing the Origen and Antiquity of That Illustrious Nation. […], London: […] Andrew Crooke, […], page 21:
- The Country of Britain was in old times adorned with 28 Cities, beſide innumerable number of Caſtles defenſed with ſtrong Walls, Towers, Gates and Locks.
References
edit- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 “defence | defense, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- ^ “dēfensen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Latin
editPronunciation
edit- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /deːˈfen.se/, [d̪eːˈfẽːs̠ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /deˈfen.se/, [d̪eˈfɛnse]
Participle
editdēfēnse
Portuguese
editVerb
editdefense
- inflection of defensar:
Spanish
editPronunciation
editVerb
editdefense
- inflection of defensar:
Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛns
- Rhymes:English/ɛns/2 syllables
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷʰen-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English forms
- en:Sports
- English terms with collocations
- en:Law
- en:Government
- en:Military
- English euphemisms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- American English
- English terms with quotations
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms with rare senses
- English heteronyms
- Latin 3-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin participle forms
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/ense
- Rhymes:Spanish/ense/3 syllables
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms