VocabauraVOCABAURA

defender

noun

Simple meaning

Someone who cares for persons or property.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dihfehnder

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɪˈfɛndɚ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Someone who defends people or property.

  2. A person who cares for persons or property

  3. A fighter who holds out against attack

  4. A fighter who seeks to repel an attack.

  5. sports

    One of the players whose primary task is to prevent the opposition from scoring.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Someone who defends people or property.

Used this way, defender is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use defender

  • “The defender blocked the shot, saving the team from a goal.”

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “defender”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

public defenderchicago defendergreat defenderstaunch defenderwindows defenderchief defenderstrong defender

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • defendverbBase word

    Argue or speak in defense of.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • defender of the faithnounCompound term

    A title that Leo X bestowed on Henry VIII and later withdrew.

  • public defendernounCompound term

    A lawyer who represents indigent defendants at public expense.

  • red hand defendersnounCompound term

    A paramilitary group of Protestants in Northern Ireland that tries to prevent any political settlement with the Irish Republic.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “defender” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

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.