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say it: di-FENS
defence is a noun meaning "(psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires". It carries 11 recorded senses.
(psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires
psychiatry
(sports) the team that is trying to prevent the other team from scoring
“his teams are always good on defense”
sport
the defendant and his legal advisors collectively
“the defense called for a mistrial”
an organization of defenders that provides resistance against attack
“he joined the defense against invasion”
the speech act of answering an attack on your assertions
“his refutation of the charges was short and persuasive”
“in defense he said the other man started it”
the justification for some act or belief
“he offered a persuasive defense of the theory”
a structure used to defend against attack
“the artillery battered down the defenses”
a defendant's answer or plea denying the truth of the charges against him
“he gave evidence for the defense”
law
(military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies
“they died in the defense of Stalingrad”
“they were developed for the defense program”
military
protection from harm
“sanitation is the best defense against disease”
the act of defending someone or something against attack or injury
“a good boxer needs a good defense”
“defense against hurricanes is an urgent problem”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for defence come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.