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Defensive   /dɪfˈɛnsɪv/   Listen
adjective
Defensive  adj.  
1.
Serving to defend or protect; proper for defense; opposed to offensive; as, defensive armor. "A moat defensive to a house."
2.
Carried on by resisting attack or aggression; opposed to offensive; as, defensive war.
3.
In a state or posture of defense.


noun
Defensive  n.  That which defends; a safeguard. "Wars preventive, upon just fears, are true defensives."
To be on the defensive, To stand on the defensive, to be or stand in a state or posture of defense or resistance, in opposition to aggression or attack.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Defensive" Quotes from Famous Books



... understand that in this prison no swords or fire- arms, or even cudgels, are kept; nor is it probable that, so long as its present excellent management continues, any weapon, offensive or defensive, will ever be required within ...
— American Notes for General Circulation • Charles Dickens
... so that Hood was obliged to take a circuitous route to the west and north. To follow Hood indefinitely, without much prospect of overtaking and overwhelming his army, would be for Sherman equivalent to being decoyed out of Georgia. To remain on the defensive, on the other hand, would be to lose the main effectiveness of his army. Sherman had previously proposed to General Grant to destroy the railway from Atlanta to Chattanooga, and strike ...
— History of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during its term of service • John R. Kinnear
... "Fly, you are discovered!" of romantic fiction? What if he had left her for good? It would not be unlikehim, after all. Under his wonderful gentleness he was always evasive and inscrutable. He might have said to himself that he would forestall her action, and place himself at once on the defensive. It might be that she had seen him go out of the ...
— Tales Of Men And Ghosts • Edith Wharton
... could have developed that capacity indicated by the vast skill with which an army of six hundred thousand men, encumbered with their wives and little ones, could be encamped in regular order, whether marching or resting. Ever desiring peace and acting on the defensive, yet ready to repel aggression, for forty years the nation of Israel were encamped as the hosts of an army. Each tribe with its own banner, marching and countermarching, taking down and putting up their tents, with all the skill and regularity ...
— Notable Women of Olden Time • Anonymous
... Martha says, Lucy," interrupted Jane in a defensive tone. "He's got a great many very good qualities; he has no mother and the captain has never looked after him. It's a great wonder that he is ...
— The Tides of Barnegat • F. Hopkinson Smith


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