Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to defend
Participle: defended
Gerund: defending
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | defend |
| you | defend |
| he;she;it | defends |
| we | defend |
| you | defend |
| they | defend |
Perfect
| I | have defended |
| you | have defended |
| he;she;it | has defended |
| we | have defended |
| you | have defended |
| they | have defended |
Past
| I | defended |
| you | defended |
| he;she;it | defended |
| we | defended |
| you | defended |
| they | defended |
Pluperfect
| I | had defended |
| you | had defended |
| he;she;it | had defended |
| we | had defended |
| you | had defended |
| they | had defended |
Future
| I | will defend |
| you | will defend |
| he;she;it | will defend |
| we | will defend |
| you | will defend |
| they | will defend |
Future Perfect
| I | will have defended |
| you | will have defended |
| he;she;it | will have defended |
| we | will have defended |
| you | will have defended |
| they | will have defended |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | defend |
| you | defend |
| he;she;it | defend |
| we | defend |
| you | defend |
| they | defend |
Perfect
| I | have defended |
| you | have defended |
| he;she;it | have defended |
| we | have defended |
| you | have defended |
| they | have defended |
Imperfect
| I | defended |
| you | defended |
| he;she;it | defended |
| we | defended |
| you | defended |
| they | defended |
Pluperfect
| I | had defended |
| you | had defended |
| he;she;it | had defended |
| we | had defended |
| you | had defended |
| they | had defended |
Conditional
Present
| I | would defend |
| you | would defend |
| he;she;it | would defend |
| we | would defend |
| you | would defend |
| they | would defend |
Perfect
| I | would have defended |
| you | would have defended |
| he;she;it | would have defended |
| we | would have defended |
| you | would have defended |
| they | would have defended |
Imperative
| you | defend |
| we | Let's defend |
| you | defend |
Verbs conjugated like 'defend'
abandon,
abduct,
abear,
aberr,
abject,
abord,
abort,
abound,
abraid,
abray,
abrook,
abscind,
abscond,
absist,
absorb,
abstain,
abstract,
accend,
accent,
accept, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'defend'
defund,
depend,
befind,
berend,
besend,
deafen,
debind,
deblend,
debond,
dedent,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
- to make or keep a person or object safe from attack
- beshield, beward, brood, cape for, fend, guard, preserve, protect, safeguard, secure, shelter, shield, ward
- protect
- fortify, resist, bulwark, garrison, avert, cover, guard, maintain
- support
- apologize, assert, exonerate, espouse, back, justify, advocate, maintain
Antonyms
- to apply violent force to a person or object
- attack
- to make or keep a person or object safe from attack
- attack
- protect
- endanger, imperil, attack, assail
- support
- counteract, block, check, defeat
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. c.1250, from O.Fr.
defendre, from L.
defendere "ward off, protect," from
de- "from, away" +
fendere "to strike, push."
Defendant is from O.Fr. prp of
defendre.
2. From Middle English defenden, from Old French defendre, deffendre (Modern French défendre), from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off”), from Proto-Italic *fendō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-. Displaced native Old English bewerian. See: Old French '
defendre', French '
défendre', Latin '
dēfendō'.
Verbs referencing "defend"
Spanish
defender.
Sample Sentences
-
“ I don't want to hear such sermons; I never wish to hear Mr. B. in our church again. Ministers can't help the evil, perhaps,—can't cure it, any more than we can,—but defend it ! — it always went against my common sense. And I think you didn't think much of that sermon, either. ”
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
Miss Ophelia seated herself resolutely on the lately vanquished trunk, and marshalling all her goods and chattels in fine military order, seemed resolved to defend them to the last.
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
[...] interest. The dangerous precipice along whose rocky front, Wolfe and his brave companions climbed to glory; the Plains of Abraham, where he received his mortal wound; the fortress so chivalrously defended by Montcalm; and his soldier 's grave, dug for him while yet alive, by the bursting of a shell; are not the least among them, or among the gallant incidents of history. That is a noble Monument [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
-
[...] 've had a sister sold in that New Orleans market. I know what they are sold for; and am I going to stand by and see them take my wife and sell her, when God has given me a pair of strong arms to defend her ? No; God help me ! I'll fight to the last breath, before they shall take my wife and son. Can you blame me ? ”
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
[...] with indignation. She knit and knit, but while she mused the fire burned; at last she broke out—“I tell you, Augustine, I can't get over things so, if you can. It's a perfect abomination for you to defend such a system,—that's _my_ mind ! ”
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
“ I say it's perfectly abominable for you to defend such a system ! ” said Miss Ophelia, with increasing warmth.
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
“ Of course, you defend it,—you all do,—all you Southerners. What do you have slaves for, if you don't ? ”
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
[...] form, what the English aristocracy and capitalists are doing by the lower classes; ’ that is, I take it, _appropriating_ them, body and bone, soul and spirit, to their use and convenience. He defends both,—and I think, at least, _consistently_. He says that there can be no high civilization without enslavement of the masses, either nominal or real. There must, he says, be a lower class, given up [...]
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
[...] defendants in that case. He says: “ In that company of seventy-six persons, who attempted, in 1848, to escape from the District of Columbia in the schooner Pearl, and whose officers I assisted in defending, there were several young and healthy girls, who had those peculiar attractions of form and feature which connoisseurs prize so highly. Elizabeth Russel was one of them. She immediately fell into [...]
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
-
[...] of that empty cradle, that silent nursery,—I beseech you, pity those mothers that are constantly made childless by the American slave-trade ! And say, mothers of America, is this a thing to be defended, sympathized with, passed over in silence ?
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)