Defend

See also défend

English

Etymology

Middle English defenden, from Old French deffendre (Modern: défendre), from Latin dēfendō (“‘to ward off’”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dɛˈfɛnd/
• (US) IPA: /dɛˈfɛnd/, /diˈfɛnd/, /dəˈfɛnd/

• Audio (US)	noicon
  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnd

Verb

Infinitive to Defend

Third person singular -

Simple past -

Past participle -

Present participle -

to Defend (third-person singular simple present -, present participle -, simple past and past participle -)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:

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

2. (transitive, obsolete) To prevent, to keep (from doing something).
3. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To prohibit, forbid.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VII:

     "Brother," seyde Sir Launcelot, "wyte you well I am full loth to departe oute of thys reallme, but the quene hath defended me so hyghly that mesemyth she woll never be my good lady as she hath bene."

4. (transitive) To ward off attacks from; to fight to protect; to guard.
5. (transitive) To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.
6. (transitive, law) To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).
7. Template:Sports To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.
8. Template:Sports To attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one did in the previous edition of that competition.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:defend

Antonyms

• attack

Related terms

• defender
• defense, defence
• defensive

Translations

ward off attacks from

Arabic: حمى ar(ar) (Hamaa), أجار ar(ar) ('ajaara) Bulgarian: защитавам bg(bg), браня bg(bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 保衛 cmn(cmn), 保卫 cmn(cmn) (bǎowèi), 守衛 cmn(cmn), 守卫 cmn(cmn) (shǒuwèi), 捍衛 cmn(cmn), 捍卫 cmn(cmn) (hànwèi) Czech: bránit cs(cs) Finnish: puolustaa fi(fi) French: défendre fr(fr) German: verteidigen de(de)

Hebrew: להגן he(he) (lehagen) Italian: difendere it(it) Japanese: 守る ja(ja) (まもる, mamoru), 防ぐ ja(ja) (ふせぐ, fusegu) Latin: defendere la(la) Norwegian: forsvare no(no), verne no(no), beskytte no(no) Romanian: apăra ro(ro) Russian: защищать ru(ru) (zaščiščát') (impf.), защитить ru(ru) (zaščitít') REDIRECT Template:pf., оборонять ru(ru) (oboronját') (impf.), оберегать ru(ru) (oberegát') (impf.), беречь ru(ru) (beréč') (impf.) Spanish: defender es(es)

Anagrams

• ddeefn,
• fended

zh-min-nan:defend et:defend el:defend fa:defend fr:defend io:defend it:defend kn:defend ku:defend lo:defend li:defend hu:defend ml:defend ja:defend no:defend pl:defend simple:defend fi:defend ta:defend te:defend vi:defend zh:defend