MEANING
1. Act to protect someone or something against harm, challenge, or criticism.
2. Act for a person or organization facing a legal claim or charge.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- defend a position
- defend a principle
On the page
The researcher defended the interpretation with additional records.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- defend
- Past tense
- defended
- Past participle
- defended
- Present participle
- defending
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- defend
- Present continuous
- am/is/are defending
- Present perfect
- have/has defended
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been defending
- Past
- defended
- Past continuous
- was/were defending
- Past perfect
- had defended
- Past perfect continuous
- had been defending
- Future
- will defend
- Future continuous
- will be defending
- Future perfect
- will have defended
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been defending
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: defend; defends; defended; defended; defending Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, explanation, evaluation. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: defends.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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