defender

noun

de·​fend·​er di-ˈfen-dər 

1

: one that defends

2

: a player in a sport (such as football) assigned to a defensive position

Synonyms

• guardian
• custodian
• protector
• protection
• bodyguard

Examples of defender in a Sentence

one of the traditional roles of an older brother is that of schoolyard defender

Recent Examples on the Web

To date, July 2025 was the busiest month for Ukrainian defenders, who faced 6,443 drones and missiles across the course of the month, per air force data. —David Brennan, ABC News, 1 Oct. 2025

Manes’ defenders pointed out she had been cleared by the internal inquiry and was implementing a policy dictated from Washington. —T. Christian Miller, ProPublica, 30 Sep. 2025

Junior tight end Bennett Jordan outjumped two defenders, somehow caught it, and the Mountain Brook team stormed the end zone. —Grace Raynor, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025

The Mets, who have a superstar hitter but poor defender in Juan Soto as their right fielder, seemingly cannot afford to bring Marte back as a DH-only option. —Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English defendour, defender, borrowed from Anglo-French defendour, defendur, from defend-, stem of defendre "to defend" + -our, -ur -or entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing defender

• public defender

Rhymes for defender

• bartender
• contender
• engender
• extender
• offender
• pretender
• provender
• surrender
• suspender
• transgender
• bender
• blender

Kids Definition

defender

noun

de·​fend·​er -ˈfen-dər 

1

: one that defends

2

: a player in a sport (as football) who plays a defensive position

Legal Definition

defender

noun

de·​fend·​er

: a lawyer who represents defendants

especially : public defender