attackverb(HURT)
[ I or T ]
to speak or write in support of someone or something:
He vigorously defended his point of view.
The president was asked how he could defend a policy that increased unemployment.
The general rallied his forces to defend the town.将军召集他的部队守卫这座城市。
The system is designed to defend against long-range missiles.
Police officers used riot shields to defend themselves.
A female lion defends her young ferociously.
In the past, the party would have closed ranks around its leader and defended him loyally.要是放在以前，该党会紧紧团结在其领袖周围，忠心地维护他。
Should the church always defend traditional values, or be open to changing them?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Defending and protecting
air defence
anti-bug
anti-mosquito
baby
bandobast
cocoon
duck
duck and coveridiom
embedded
featherbedding
fight back
hedge
insulate
poisonous
security camera
security light
self-protective
self-protectiveness
shelter
smother

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Backing, supporting & defending

defendverb (IN LAW)

[ I or T ]
to try to prove in court that someone who has been accused of something is not guilty:
He is a lawyer who has defended many famous clients.
The accused opted to defend himself in court.
The company has spent a lot of money defending the case.
Jane Clarke, defending, said that her client had struggled with his mental health.
defend againstShe vowed to vigorously defend against the allegations.
The lawyer defending the students asked the judge to dismiss the charges.
They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending against negligence claims.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Court cases, orders & decisions
actionable
actionably
administer
admissibility
admissible
extinguishment
extrajudicial
extrajudicially
fatal accident inquiry
federal case
pettifoggery
pettifogging
plea bargain
plea bargaining
pleading
the Webster ruling
waiver
walk
walk freeidiom
wardship

defendverb (IN SPORT)

[ T ]
to compete in a sports competition that you won before and try to win it again: （运动比赛中）卫冕;蝉联冠军
He will defend his 1,500 metre title this weekend.他会在周末1500米比赛中争取卫冕。
The defending champion will play her first match of the tournament tomorrow.卫冕冠军将在明天进行她在此次锦标赛中的第一场比赛。
[ I ]
to try to prevent the opposing player or players from scoring points, goals, etc. in a sport: （在体育比赛中）防守，防卫
In the last ten minutes of the game, we needed to defend.我们得在比赛的最后十分钟内进行防守。

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Competing in sport
bring
bring someone on
bye
bye week
catchup
contention
duel
explosive
field
gear
go the distanceidiom
match
non-competitor
outduel
park the busidiom
partner up
play bigidiom
square
step/move up a gearidiom
weigh

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

General terms used in ball sports

Examples of defending

defending

In English, many past and present participles of verbs can be used as adjectives. Some of these examples may show the adjective use.

The committee's motivation for ardently defending a hereditarian explanation of mental defect arose from politics and propaganda.
Recruitment of unemployed and often violent youth who were more interested in looting than in defending citizens only added to the country's troubles.
Exploitive agents endowed with the ability to interact selectively succeed in defending against invasion because they induce a highly non-interactive world.
Even if they can, the abilities of defending their sovereignties are not equal!
At the same time, both the press and the courts provided alternative strategies for defending reputations.
We accept, therefore, that we face an onus of proof in defending our definition - an onus that we cannot fully meet in this article.
She screams, defending herself, and the hidden counsellor shouts in panic.
He was as aggressive as the poet when it came to defending territory.
The point is not only that she was defending her new place in society.
Some of the participants were self-conscious, self-assertive ' backwoodsmen ' defending an independent way of life, looting and striking back against coastal people.
Measuring parasite aggregation : defending the index of discrepancy.
Litigants acquired a new vocabulary for defending their interests and constructing their family history to suit those interests.
These are the spaces where being an individual really begins to mean something that would be worth defending or promoting politically.
The question is to what extent this normative framework will be acceptable and satisfactory to those defending the equal value of life principle.
The authors went to great lengths in defending this thesis.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.