defensa

• IPA^(key): (Central) [dəˈfɛn.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [dəˈfən.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [deˈfen.sa]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Learned borrowing from Late Latin dēfēnsa.

defensa f (plural defenses)

1. defense

defensa

1. inflection of defensar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “defensa”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “defensa”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “defensa” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “defensa”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Nominalization of the feminine form of dēfēnsus, the perfect passive participle of dēfendō (“to defend”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [deːˈfẽː.sa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [deˈfɛn.sa]

dēfēnsa f (genitive dēfēnsae); first declension (Late Latin)

1. (Late Latin) defense, protection

   Synonyms: dēfēnsiō, prōtēctiō, tūtēla, vindicātiō

First-declension noun.

dēfēnsa

1. inflection of dēfēnsus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

dēfēnsā

1. ablative feminine singular of dēfēnsus

• “defensa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "defensa", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “defensa”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

From Late Latin dēfēnsa.

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

defensa f (plural defensas)

1. defense

• Hyphenation: de‧fen‧sa

Learned borrowing from Latin dēfēnsa. Doublet of defesa and devesa.

defensa f (plural defensas)

1. (archaic) alternative form of defesa

defensa

1. inflection of defensar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “defensa”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “defensa”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /deˈfensa/ [d̪eˈfẽn.sa]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ensa
• Syllabification: de‧fen‧sa

Learned borrowing from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“bounded, defended”), from Latin dēfēnsus. Doublet of dehesa. Cognate with English defense.

defensa f (plural defensas)

1. defense
   • 1888, Eduardo Acevedo Díaz, Ismael‎^[1], Buenos Aires: La Tribuna Nacional:

     Por eso, los nuevos compañeros de Ismael se mantuvieron silenciosos y prudentes, cuando él estalló en cólera en defensa de una culebra. ¿Qué no haría en defensa del pago, y de su vida misma?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. retaining wall
3. (automotive) bumper

   Synonym: parachoques

• autodefensa, defensa personal
• legítima defensa
• mecanismo de defensa

defensa m (plural defensas)

1. (sports) back

defensa

1. inflection of defensar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “defensa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025