de·fen·sive

(dĭ-fĕn′sĭv)

adj.

1. Intended or appropriate for defending; protective.

a. Intended to withstand or deter aggression or attack: a defensive weapons system; defensive behavior.

b. Of or relating to the effort to prevent an opponent from gaining points in a game or athletic contest.

c. Performed so as to avoid risk, danger, or legal liability: defensive driving; defensive medicine.

3. Of or relating to defense.

4. Psychology Constantly protecting oneself from criticism, exposure of one's shortcomings, or other real or perceived threats to the ego.

1. A means of defense.

2. An attitude or position of defense.

Idiom:

on the defensive

Prepared to withstand or counter aggression or attack.

de·fen′sive·ly adv.

de·fen′sive·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

defensive

(dɪˈfɛnsɪv)

adj

1. intended, suitable, or done for defence, as opposed to offence

2. (Psychology) rejecting criticisms of oneself or covering up one's failings

3. a position of defence

4. on the defensive in an attitude or position of defence, as in being ready to reject criticism

deˈfensively adv

deˈfensiveness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

de•fen•sive

(dɪˈfɛn sɪv)

adj.

1. serving or done for the purpose of resisting attack.

2. of or pertaining to defense.

3. sensitive to the threat of criticism or injury to one's ego.

4. a position or attitude of defense: on the defensive about one's mistakes.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Medieval Latin]

de′fen′sive•ly, adv.

de•fen′sive•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	defensive - an attitude of defensiveness (especially in the phrase `on the defensive') defensive attitude attitude, mental attitude - a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways; "he had the attitude that work was fun"
Adj.	1.	defensive - intended or appropriate for defending against or deterring aggression or attack; "defensive weapons"; "a defensive stance" protective - intended or adapted to afford protection of some kind; "a protective covering"; "the use of protective masks and equipment"; "protective coatings"; "kept the drunken sailor in protective custody"; "animals with protective coloring"; "protective tariffs" offensive - for the purpose of attack rather than defense; "offensive weapons"
	2.	defensive - attempting to justify or defend in speech or writing justificative, justificatory apologetic, excusatory - offering or expressing apology; "an apologetic note"; "an apologetic manner"

defensive

adjective

1. protective, guarding, defending, opposing, shielding, safeguarding, watchful, on the defensive, on guard hastily organized defensive measures

2. oversensitive, neurotic, prickly, uptight (informal), thin-skinned, self-justifying, easily offended She heard the blustering, defensive note in his voice.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

دِفاعي، وِقائي

obranný

defensivforsvars-

Defensive verteidigend

varnar-

obranný

obramben

savunmaya yönelik

防御的

defensive

[dɪˈfensɪv]

A. ADJ [attitude, measures, play] → defensivo

B. N → defensiva f
to be/go on the defensive → estar/ponerse a la defensiva

C. CPD defensive works NPL → fortificaciones fpl

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

defensive

[dɪˈfɛnsɪv]

adj

[weapon] → défensif/ive

(= self-protective) [person] → sur la défensive; [position, attitude] → défensif/ive

n → défensive f
to be on the defensive → être sur la défensive
to put sb on the defensive → mettre qn sur la défensive

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

defensive

adj → defensiv (also fig); a good defensive player → ein guter Verteidiger

n (Mil) → Verteidigungs- or Abwehraktion f; to be on the defensive (Mil, fig) → in der Defensive sein; to put somebody on the defensive (fig) → jdn in die Defensive drängen; to go onto the defensive (fig) → sich in die Defensive begeben

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

defensive

[dɪˈfɛnsɪv]

1. adj → difensivo/a; (person) → sulla difensiva

2. n on the defensive → sulla difensiva

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

defend

(diˈfend) verb

1. to guard or protect against attack. The soldiers defended the castle; I am prepared to defend my opinions.

2. to conduct the defence of (a person) in a law-court.

deˈfendant noun

a person accused or sued in a law-court.

deˈfender noun

a person who defends (someone or something). the defenders of the castle.

deˈfensive (-siv) adjective

protective or resisting attack. a defensive attitude; defensive action.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The second is passive, defensive,--to it belongs the "struggle for existence."

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Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.

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If this is true, it is not only necessary to have walls, but care must be taken that they may be a proper ornament to the city, as well as a defence in time of war; not only according to the old methods, but the modern improvements also: for as those who make offensive war endeavour by every way possible to gain advantages over their adversaries, so should those who are upon the defensive employ all the means already known, and such new ones as philosophy can invent, to defend themselves: for those who are well prepared are seldom first attacked.

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Travelling hard all night, we found ourselves next morning past the plain; but the road we were in was not more commodious, the points of the rocks pierced our feet; to increase our perplexities we were alarmed with the approach of an armed troop, which our fear immediately suggested to be the Galles, who chiefly beset these passes of the mountains; we put ourselves on the defensive, and expected them, whom, upon a more exact examination, we found to be only a caravan of merchants come as usual to fetch salt.

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From these considerations it appears that those gentlemen are greatly mistaken who suppose that alliances offensive and defensive might be formed between these confederacies, and would produce that combination and union of wills of arms and of resources, which would be necessary to put and keep them in a formidable state of defense against foreign enemies.

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But though thus unoffending in their policy, they are called upon continually to wage defensive warfare; especially with the Blackfeet; with whom, in the course of their hunting expeditions, they come in frequent collision and have desperate battles.

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On returning to France, to the bosom of the great, strong, magnificent, peaceful, and glorious fatherland, I should have proclaimed her frontiers immutable; all future wars purely defensive, all aggrandizement antinational.

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They are all on the defensive, lose their tempers, as though they all want to make one feel something..."

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"Aye, Master Marner, what do you want wi' me?" said Jem, trembling a little, and seizing his drinking-can as a defensive weapon.

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Relying too much on the offensive weapons of their acute angles instead of the defensive organs of good sense and seasonable simulation, these reckless creatures too often neglect the prescribed construction of the women's apartments, or irritate their wives by ill-advised expressions out of doors, which they refuse immediately to retract.

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The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in length, and fifteen inches in diameter at the base.

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These defensive weapons were accompanied by pickaxes, crowbars, saws, and other useful implements, not to mention clothing adapted to every temperature, from that of polar regions to that of the torrid zone.

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