defend

From Middle English defenden, from Old French defendre, deffendre (Modern French défendre), from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off”), from Proto-Italic *fendō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-. Displaced native Old English bewerian.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɛnd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɛnd/, /diˈfɛnd/, /dəˈfɛnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnd

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

1. (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.

2. (transitive) To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.
   • 2024 July 25, Devan Cole, “Justice Elena Kagan says Supreme Court’s code of conduct needs an enforcement plan. Takeaways from her wide-ranging comments.”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday defended the code of conduct the Supreme Court created last year, but conceded there needs to be a way to enforce the rules for it to be more effective.

3. (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 The Guardian:

     Philip Miles, defending, said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."

4. (sports) To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.
5. (cricket) Mostly in tests. The action of not putting force into hitting a shot, but to conserve energy and wear down bowlers so they can attack later.

   The teams strategy was to defend but score runs as well for the first 20 overs.

6. (sports) To attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one did in the previous instance of that competition.
7. (poker slang) To call a raise from the big blind.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     The vertue is, that neither steele, nor stone
     The stroke thereof from entrance may defend […].

9. (transitive, obsolete) To prevent, to keep (from doing something).
10. (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

      “Brother”, said Sir Launcelot, “you know full well that I would be very reluctant to leave this kingdom,
      were it not that the queen had forbidden me so strongly to remain here,
      that it seems to me that she will never again be my lover as once she was”

• See also Thesaurus:defend

• attack

• fended