Defensio

Defensio is a Latin noun meaning defense or justification. In classical Latin it denotes the act of defending a person, argument, or legal case, as well as the content of that defense—a defense speech, an argument in favor of a proposition, or a vindication against accusations. The term appears in legal, rhetorical, and philosophical contexts and can be used to describe the defense offered in court or in a debate.

Defensio is a feminine noun of the third declension; its genitive form is defensionis. It is derived from defendere, "to defend," and shares its root with related terms such as defensus.

In Latin glossaries and scholarly writings, defensio may be used to refer to the act of defending as a concept, rather than to a concrete object.

In modern English-language scholarship, defensio mostly appears in discussions of ancient rhetoric and patristic or scholastic texts, where scholars describe a defensio of a doctrine or position in Latin. It is not a common technical term in contemporary English, but it can be encountered in translations or in discussions of Latin sources that use the original term.

Defensio is thus primarily of historical and linguistic interest as a Latin word rather than as a contemporary technical term; its primary function in Latin is to denote defense, justification, or vindication in argumentation and law.