defence
noun
Simple meaning
Defending someone or something against attack or injury.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihfehnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪˈfɛns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of defending someone or something against attack or injury
“A good boxer needs a good defense.”
The action of defending, of protecting from attack, danger or injury.
sports
The team that is trying to prevent the other team from scoring
“His teams are always good on defense.”
Something used to oppose attacks.
An argument in support or justification of something.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of defending someone or something against attack or injury
Used this way, defence is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- defensive measure , rarer, so it draws attention
- defensive structure , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Defendingnoun
“A good boxer needs a good defense.”
Teamnoun
“His teams are always good on defense.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires.
A program for defending a country against its enemies.
A program for defending a country against its enemies.
An unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires.
The weaponry available for the defense of a region.
An organization of defenders that provides resistance against attack.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: defending someone or something against attack
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.