defendant

• defendaunt (obsolete)

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɛnd.ənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

From Middle English defendaunt (“defending; defending in a suit”), borrowed from Old French defendant, present participle of defendre, from Latin dēfendere.

defendant (comparative more defendant, superlative most defendant)

1. Serving, or suitable, for defense; defensive, defending.
   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     Thus comes the English with full power upon us;
     And more than carefully it us concerns
     To answer royally in our defences.
     Therefore the Dukes of Berri and of Bretagne,
     Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth,
     And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch,
     To line and new repair our towns of war
     With men of courage and with means defendant;

From Middle English defendaunt (“defendant in a suit; defender”), borrowed from Old French defendant, nominalisation of defendant; see above.

defendant (plural defendants)

1. (law) In civil proceedings, the party responding to the complaint; one who is sued and called upon to make satisfaction for a wrong complained of by another.
   • 2019 November 29, Daniel J. Anders, Bobby Ochoa III, Ohlbaum on the Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence, LexisNexis, →ISBN:

     404(b)—including a series of domestic abuse incidents defendant perpetrated against victim, a PFA against defendant by victim, and other third-party PFAs entered against defendant to protect other women—as well as evidence from […]

2. (law) In criminal proceedings, the accused.
   • 2018 January 29, Sophie Kleber, “As AI Meets the Reputation Economy, We're All Being Silently Judged”, in Harvard Business Review‎^[1], Brighton, M.A.: Harvard Business Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 May 2023:

     Unintended mathwashing occurs when the algorithm is left unchecked, and, learning from historical data, amplifies social bias. The U.S. justice system uses an algorithm called COMPAS to determine a criminal's likelihood to re-offend. COMPAS has been proven by Pro Publica to predict that black defendants will have higher rates of recidivism than they actually do, while white defendants are predicted to have lower rates than they actually do.

In Canadian and Philippine law, defendant is generally used only for a party being sued civilly; a person being tried criminally is the accused.

• (law, litigation): (in civil proceedings) respondant

• (antonym(s) of “in civil proceedings”): plaintiff, claimant
• (antonym(s) of “in criminal proceedings”): prosecutor

• litigant

• respondent

dēfendant

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of dēfendō