Defendant
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 In civil proceedings, the party responding to the complaint; one who is sued and called upon to make satisfaction for a wrong complained of by another.
"404(b)—including a series of domestic abuse incidents defendant perpetrated against victim, a PFA against defendant by victim, and other third-party PFAs entered against defendant to protect other women—as well as evidence from[…]"
- 2 a person or institution against whom an action is brought in a court of law; the person being sued or accused wordnet
- 3 In criminal proceedings, the accused.
"Unintended mathwashing occurs when the algorithm is left unchecked, and, learning from historical data, amplifies social bias. The U.S. justice system uses an algorithm called COMPAS to determine a criminal's likelihood to re-offend. COMPAS has been proven by Pro Publica to predict that black defendants will have higher rates of recidivism than they actually do, while white defendants are predicted to have lower rates than they actually do."
- 1 Serving, or suitable, for defense; defensive, defending.
"Thus comes the English with full power upon us; And more than carefully it us concerns To answer royally in our defences. Therefore the Dukes of Berri and of Bretagne, Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth, And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch, To line and new repair our towns of war With men of courage and with means defendant;"
Example
More examples"The news article painted the defendant as a guilty man, even though he had been proven innocent."
Etymology
From Middle English defendaunt (“defending; defending in a suit”), borrowed from Old French defendant, present participle of defendre, from Latin dēfendere.
From Middle English defendaunt (“defendant in a suit; defender”), borrowed from Old French defendant, nominalisation of defendant; see above.
Related phrases
More for "defendant"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.