Word family noun defence/defense defendant defender defensiveness adjective defenceless/defenseless defensible ≠ indefensible defensive verb defend adverb defensibly ≠ indefensibly defensively
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdefenderde‧fend‧er /dɪˈfendə $ -ər/ ●●○ noun [countable] 1 DSone of the players in a game such as football who has to defend their team’s goal from the opposing team It’s his fourth season as an Arsenal defender.2 DEFENDsomeone who defends a particular idea, belief, person etc He presented himself as a defender of democracy.Examples from the Corpus
defender• Using his crossover dribble to create space between him and a defender and then sticking a 3-pointer.• The 24-year-old central defender was carried off at Tranmere Rovers on Friday night when his knee locked.• But his defenders note that the current excavation of the tunnel was initiated by the Labor government.• There are two responses that defenders of the behavioural approach might make to this argument.• Three sailors were killed nevertheless by the defenders.• Having blocked two attacking techniques, the defender counters with a double punch to his opponent's face. 