To withdraw or reduce the funding provided to an organization, program or activity.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- defund a program
- defund an institution
On the page
The proposal would defund the program while transferring part of its work elsewhere.
The institution was defunded in stages rather than closed by one immediate order.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- defund
- Past tense
- defunded
- Past participle
- defunded
- Present participle
- defunding
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- defund
- Present continuous
- am/is/are defunding
- Present perfect
- have/has defunded
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been defunding
- Past
- defunded
- Past continuous
- was/were defunding
- Past perfect
- had defunded
- Past perfect continuous
- had been defunding
- Future
- will defund
- Future continuous
- will be defunding
- Future perfect
- will have defunded
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been defunding
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: defund; defunds; defunded; defunded; defunding 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: economic process explanation, financial distinction, incentive analysis, institutional change. Disciplines: economics, business, public policy. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: defunds.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.