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# defender

«defender» in Mova's school dictionary: **A person who protects someone or something from attack or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a defender, defenders)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A person who protects someone or something from attack or harm. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#m1)

2) In team sports, a player whose job is to stop the other team from scoring. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#m2)

3) A person who speaks up for an idea or for someone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In sports lessons, defenders stay back near their own goal in football, hockey and netball. In history and stories, defenders protect a castle or town from attackers. In feelings lessons, standing up for someone being bullied makes you a defender (an upstander). Phrases: «a strong defender», «defenders of the castle», «left/right defender».

### examples

- Our best defender stopped the ball before it reached the goal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x1)
- The defenders of the castle pulled up the drawbridge. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x2)
- In netball, the defender tries to block the shot. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x3)
- She was a defender of animals and their rights. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x4)
- The defender tackled the striker cleanly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x5)
- When someone is being teased, be a defender, not a bystander. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x6)
- The city's defenders held out for a week. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x7)
- Defenders must stay close to the players they mark. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x8)
- He is her helper and defender. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/#x9)

### note

Countable: a defender, defenders. Verb «defend»; noun «defence» (British) or «defense» (American). Opposites: attacker, striker, forward.

### In the corpora

- [Stay level with the second-last defender, then time your run.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/41-football-positions-rules-and-scoring/3/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «defender» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/defender/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.