- variant of defense.
- resistance against danger, attack, or harm; protection
- a person or thing that provides such resistance
- a plea, essay, speech, etc, in support of something; vindication; justification
- a country's military measures or resources
- (as modifier)
- a defendant's denial of the truth of the allegations or charge against him
- the defendant and his legal advisers collectively
- sport
- the action of protecting oneself, one's goal, or one's allotted part of the playing area against an opponent's attacks
- the method of doing this
- the players in a team whose function is to do this
- American football (usually preceded by the)
- the team that does not have possession of the ball
- the members of a team that play in such circumstances
- psychoanal See defence mechanism
- fortifications
