Meaning

11 senses
  1. To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard.

    (ditransitive, transitive)To ward off attacks against (something or someone).

    verteidigen

    защища́тьzaščiščátʹ, защити́тьzaščitítʹ, обороня́тьoboronjátʹ

    обороня́тиoboronjáty, оборони́тиoboronýty, захища́тиzaxyščáty

  2. (ditransitive, intransitive)To ward off attacks from (something or someone).

  3. (transitive)To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.

  4. (transitive)To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).

  5. To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. (slang)To call a raise from the big blind.

  9. (obsolete, transitive)To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).

  10. (obsolete, transitive)To prevent, to keep (from doing something).

  11. (intransitive, obsolete, transitive)To prohibit, forbid.

More definitions
  • argue or speak in defense of
  • be on the defensive; act against an attack
  • protect against a challenge or attack
  • be the defense counsel for someone in a trial

Examples

620 sentences
  1. I wasn't able to defend myself.

    Я не міг захищатися.

    ruЯ не смог защититься.

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  2. Tom didn't try to defend Mary.

    Том не намагався захистити Мері.

    ruТом не пытался защитить Мэри.

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  3. Tom was defending Mary.

    Том захищав Мері.

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  4. The town was defended by a large army.

    Місто оборонялося великим військом.

    ruГород защищала большая армия.

    deDie Stadt wurde von einer großen Armee verteidigt.

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  5. They defended their country.

    Вони боронили свою країну.

    ruОни защитили свою страну.

    deSie haben ihr Land verteidigt.

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
ward off attacks against:
Русский
By meaning 1
ward off attacks against:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
ward off attacks against:

Origin

From Middle English defenden, from Old French defendre, deffendre (Modern French défendre)

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.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

defends, defending, defended, defended
Base formdefend · to defend
3rd person singulardefends
Present participledefending
Past simpledefended
Past participledefended

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theydefend
he, she, itdefends

Past simpleLesson

all personsdefended

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave defended
he, she, ithas defended

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill defend

Synonyms

24 synonyms
Close in meaning

Antonyms

2 antonyms

Word family

19 related words

Collocations

12 patterns
  • to defend himself
  • defend himself
  • to defend ourselves
  • to defend myself
  • defend ourselves
  • defend myself
  • how to defend
  • able to defend
  • tried to defend
  • right to defend
  • have to defend
  • to defend yourselves

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
defend — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto