defend
verbEtymology
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.
Definitions
To ward off attacks against
To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard.
To support by words or writing
To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.
- 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.
To make legal defence of
To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).
- Philip Miles, defending, said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."
›+ 7 more definitionsshow fewer
To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to…
To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.
Mostly in tests. The action of not putting force into hitting a shot, but to conserve…
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.
To attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one…
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.
To call a raise from the big blind.
To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).
- The vertue is, that neither steele, nor stone The stroke thereof from entrance may defend[…].
To prevent, to keep (from doing something).
To prohibit, forbid.
- 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
The neighborhood
- synonymbeshield
- synonymbeward
- synonymbrood
- synonymcape for
- synonymdefend
- synonymfend
- synonymguard
- synonympreserve
- synonymprotect
- synonymsafeguard
- synonymsecure
- synonymshelter
- antonymattack
- neighbordefence
- neighbordefense
- neighbordefensive
- neighborfend
- neighborfender
- neighborfend off
- neighborforfend
- neighborindulge
Derived
defendable, defendant, defendee, defender, defending, dexify, misdefend, redefend, underdefend
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at defend. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at defend. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
7 hops · closes at defend
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA