defend
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
card-games
cricket
games
hobbies
law
lifestyle
poker
sports
Etymology: 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.
Inflected forms:
form: defends
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: defending
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: defended
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: defended
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: defend
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: defend
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: defended
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: defend
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: defendest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: defended
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: defendedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: defends
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: defendeth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: defended
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: defend
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: defended
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: defend
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: defended
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: defend
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: defending
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: defended
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Philip Miles, defending, said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."
gloss: To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.
pos: verb
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
examples: The teams strategy was to defend but score runs as well for the first 20 overs.
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
gloss: To call a raise from the big blind.
pos: verb
tags: slang
gloss: To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: The vertue is, that neither steele, nor stone
 The stroke thereof from entrance may defend[…].
gloss: To prevent, to keep (from doing something).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To prohibit, forbid.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
transitive
examples: 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
Synonyms: beshield
beward
brood
cape for
defend
fend
guard
preserve
protect
safeguard
secure
shelter
shield
ward
Antonyms: attack
Related words: defence
defense
defensive
fend
fender
fend off
forfend
indulge
Derived words: defendable
defendant
defendee
defender
defending
dexify
misdefend
redefend
underdefend
Translations: