defense
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 or 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.”
Anything employed to oppose attack(s).
An argument in support or justification of something.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- 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, defense is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“A good boxer needs a good defense.”
- 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
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.”
More ways to use defense
- “Sanitation is the best defense against disease.”noun
- “A good boxer needs a good defense.”noun
- “The defense called for a mistrial.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Intended or appropriate for defending against or deterring aggression or attack.
In an apologetic and defensive manner.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A combat support agency in the Department of Defense responsible for developing and operating and supporting information systems to serve the needs of the President and the Secretary of…
An intelligence agency of the United States in the Department of Defense.
A laboratory devoted to research and development for national defense.
The lawyer representing the defendant.
A logistics combat support agency in the Department of Defense.
An unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: defending someone or something against attack
Antonyms
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.