Noun
1. (sports) the team that is trying to prevent the other team from scoring;
"his teams are always good on defense"2. military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies;
"they died in the defense of Stalingrad""they were developed for the defense program"3. the defendant and his legal advisors collectively;
"the defense called for a mistrial"4. protection from harm;
"sanitation is the best defense against disease"5. a structure used for defense;
"the artillery battered down the defenses"6. 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"7. the justification for some act or belief;
"he offered a persuasive defense of the theory"8. a defendant's answer or plea denying the truth of the charges against him;
"he gave evidence for the defense"9. an organization of defenders that provides resistance against attack;
"he joined the defense against invasion"10. (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires