noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Alternative spelling of self-defense. alt-of, alternative, uncountable, usually
2. 2
   the act of defending yourself wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

self-defenseself-protection

Example

More examples

"Tom killed John in self-defence."

Etymology

From self- + defence.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.