defended

Defended is the past tense and past participle of the verb defend. It denotes having protected something from harm, risk, or attack, or having argued in support of a position or claim. As a legal term, defended describes actions taken to protect a client or to uphold an allegation against an accuser, often in phrases such as the defendant was defended by counsel or the evidence defended the claim. In general use, it can describe physical protection as well as argumentative justification.

The word derives from the Latin defendere, via Old French defendre, and entered English in the medieval period. It is a regular verb; the simple past and past participle are formed by adding -ed to the base form defend, yielding defended. The present participle is defending.

Common related terms include defense (American spelling) or defence (British) for the noun, and defender for one who protects or argues. The term appears in a variety of domains, including law, sports, politics, and military history. In sport, teams defended a lead or a goal by preventing opponents from scoring; in security contexts, systems are described as defended when they resist intrusion. In rhetoric, a speaker defends a claim by presenting evidence and reasoning.

Usage notes: defended is appropriate in past contexts or with auxiliary verbs such as have defended, had defended, or will have defended. Care should be taken not to confuse with defense as a noun, or with defendant for the party accused in a case.