defend

Other forms of defend

past tense

defended·

present participle

defending·

third person

defends·

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.

Questions about defend

What does defend mean?

defend means "argue or speak in defense of". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in defend?

defend has 2 syllables: de-fend. The stress falls on "fend". In IPA it is /dɪˈfɛnd/.

What is another word for defend?

Close synonyms include support, fend for, guard, hold, fight. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of defend?

The recorded antonyms are attack, prosecute.

Is defend a common word?

defend is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with defend?

2 words rhyme with defend. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.