DEFENSIVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does defensive mean? 

• DEFENSIVE (noun)
  The noun DEFENSIVE has 1 sense:

1. an attitude of defensiveness (especially in the phrase 'on the defensive')

  Familiarity information: DEFENSIVE used as a noun is very rare.

• DEFENSIVE (adjective)
  The adjective DEFENSIVE has 2 senses:

1. intended or appropriate for defending against or deterring aggression or attack

2. attempting to justify or defend in speech or writing

  Familiarity information: DEFENSIVE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEFENSIVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An attitude of defensiveness (especially in the phrase 'on the defensive')

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

defensive; defensive attitude

Hypernyms ("defensive" is a kind of...):

attitude; mental attitude (a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways)

Derivation:

defensive (attempting to justify or defend in speech or writing)

• DEFENSIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Intended or appropriate for defending against or deterring aggression or attack

Context example:

a defensive stance

Similar:

antiaircraft (designed for defense from a surface position against air attack)

antisubmarine (defensive against enemy submarines)

antitank (designed for defense against armored vehicles)

defending (attempting to or designed to prevent an opponent from winning or scoring)

en garde ((fencing) in a defensive stance)

Also:

protective (intended or adapted to afford protection of some kind)

Antonym:

offensive (for the purpose of attack rather than defense)

Derivation:

defend (be on the defensive; act against an attack)

defend (protect against a challenge or attack)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Attempting to justify or defend in speech or writing

Synonyms:

defensive; justificative; justificatory

Similar:

apologetic; excusatory (offering or expressing apology)

Derivation:

defend (state or assert)

defend (fight against or resist strongly)

defensive (an attitude of defensiveness (especially in the phrase 'on the defensive'))

 Context examples 

Furanocoumarins are produced by plants as defensive toxins and, when ingested by humans, they can affect the metabolism of drugs by cytochrome P450 isoform CYP3A4.

(Furanocoumarin, NCI Thesaurus)

Walt was on the defensive at once.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

When inhaled, they can penetrate the respiratory system’s defensive barriers and reach deep in the lung.

(Ethanol to gasoline switch raises nanoparticles in air, SciDev.Net)

Mr. Micawber, I must observe, in his adaptation of himself to a new state of society, had acquired a bold buccaneering air, not absolutely lawless, but defensive and prompt.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Here the two combatants drew their swords and threw off their doublets, for neither had any defensive armor.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Immune Cell Activation involves cell interaction and cell signaling mechanisms that recognize or respond to the presence of foreign antigen and that induce responsive cells of the immune system to synthesize and secrete defensive products, to proliferate, to differentiate, or to attack the sources of foreign antigens.

(Immune Cell Activation Process, NCI Thesaurus)

Inflammation occurs when the body’s defensive mechanism kicks in to ward off infection or disease, but this mechanism can turn against itself when triggered, for instance, by excess low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) that seep into the lining of the arteries.

(Psoriasis therapy linked to reduced coronary inflammation in patients with the skin condition, National Institutes of Health)

Inflammation occurs when the body’s defensive mechanism kicks in to ward off infection or disease, but this mechanism can turn against itself when triggered, for instance, by excess low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) that seep into the lining of the arteries.

(Study links psoriasis treatment and improvement in heart artery disease, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The betting was still steadily in favour of Wilson, for he had a number of bye-battles to set against this single victory of Jim’s, and it was thought by connoisseurs who had seen him spar that the singular defensive tactics which had given him his nickname would prove very puzzling to a raw antagonist.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Micawber, whose impetuosity I had restrained thus far with the greatest difficulty, and who had repeatedly interposed with the first syllable of SCOUN-drel! without getting to the second, now burst forward, drew the ruler from his breast (apparently as a defensive weapon), and produced from his pocket a foolscap document, folded in the form of a large letter.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)