Sentence:  Sir Robert Watson-Watt 's `` rebuttal '' of Sir Charles Snow 's Godkin Lectures is marred throughout by too forceful a desire to <WSD>defend</WSD> Lindemann and apparently himself from Sir Charles ' supposed falsehoods while stating those `` falsehoods '' in an unclear incoherent argument . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  argue or speak in defense of