1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

fends

verb

present tense third-person singular of fend
as in protects
to drive danger or attack away from learned to use humor to fend herself from criticism

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fends
  1. protects
  2. defends
  3. shields
Verb
  • The security model that protects your people is a great foundation for your security model for agents.
    — Sumit Dhawan, Forbes.com, 23 Sep. 2026
  • French officials and many educators say secularism in public schools and other institutions protects less observant and nonreligious people from pressure while leaving everyone free to worship in private.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of protects
Verb
  • Having taken home the top spot on the 50 Top Pizza list three years in a row and coming in a respectable second place in this edition, Una Pizza Napoletana defends its aptonym well.
    — Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps — the one where Paige Spiranac says goodbye to summer and defends Sydney Sweeney as the wokes continue to melt down over her sports gambling ad.
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of defends
Verb
  • The injunction shields members who use pronouns or names assigned at birth when referring to transgender people.
    — Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026
  • At the federal level, attempts have been made to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields firearm makers and dealers from civil liability.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of shields
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

fend (off)
fends
fends for oneself
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fends.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fends. Accessed 26 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 25
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All