Defensive driving can help you avoid accidents.
Source: tatoeba (324723)
Defensive
//dɪˈfɛn.sɪv//
Synonyms for "defensive" (35 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (7)
Strong matches (11)
Related words (17)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
2 entriesAntonyms
2 entriesSynonyms
1 entriesRelated terms
2 entriesderived
29 entriesShowing 16 of 29 words.
has context
2 entriesis a
1 entriesrelated to
18 entriesShowing 16 of 18 words.
similar
13 entriesTranslations
71 translations across 21 languages.
Armenian
1 entries- պաշտպանական adj (intended for defence; protective)
Belarusian
3 entries- абаро́нны adj (intended for defence; protective)
- ахо́ўны adj (intended for defence; protective)
- абаро́на noun (means, attitude or position)
Bulgarian
3 entries- защитен adj (intended for defence; protective)
- отбранителен adj (intended for defence; protective)
- отбрана noun (means, attitude or position)
Catalan
4 entries- defenent adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensant adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensiu adj (intended for defence; protective)
- que defend adj (intended for defence; protective)
Czech
1 entries- obranný adj (intended for defence; protective)
Dutch
2 entries- beschermend adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensief adj (intended for defence; protective)
Finnish
4 entries- defensiivinen adj (performed so as to minimise risk)
- ehkäisevä adj (performed so as to minimise risk)
- ennakoiva adj (performed so as to minimise risk)
- herkkähipiäinen adj (displaying an inordinate sensitivity to criticism; cf. thin-skinned)
French
2 entries- defendant adj (intended for defence; protective)
- défensif adj (intended for defence; protective)
Galician
2 entries- defensivo adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensiva noun (means, attitude or position)
German
4 entries- Abwehr adj (intended for defence; protective)
- Abwehr adj (intended to deter attack)
- Abwehr adj (in a state or posture of defense)
- Verteidigungs adj (intended for defence; protective)
Greek
1 entries- αμυντικός adj (intended for defence; protective)
Hungarian
3 entries- defenzív adj (intended for defence; protective)
- védekező adj (intended for defence; protective)
- védelmi adj (intended for defence; protective)
Ido
1 entries- defensiva adj (intended for defence; protective)
Italian
3 entries- che difende adj (intended for defence; protective)
- difendente adj (intended for defence; protective)
- difensivo adj (intended for defence; protective)
Latin
3 entries- defendēns adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensāns adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensīvus adj (intended for defence; protective)
Polish
3 entries- defensywny adj (intended for defence; protective)
- obronny adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensywa noun (means, attitude or position)
Portuguese
4 entries- defensante adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensivo adj (intended for defence; protective)
- que defensa adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensiva noun (means, attitude or position)
Romanian
3 entries- defensiv adj (intended for defence; protective)
- apărare noun (means, attitude or position)
- defensivă noun (means, attitude or position)
Russian
3 entries- защи́тный adj (intended for defence; protective)
- оборони́тельный adj (intended for defence; protective)
- оборо́на noun (means, attitude or position)
Spanish
3 entries- defensante adj (intended for defence; protective)
- defensivo adj (intended for defence; protective)
- que defensa adj (intended for defence; protective)
Ukrainian
3 entries- захисни́й adj (intended for defence; protective)
- оборо́нний adj (intended for defence; protective)
- оборо́на noun (means, attitude or position)
Sample sentences
17 total sentences available.
The revolutionary government, while raising troops from the masses and fighting a defensive battle, established a republic and executed Louis XVI.
Source: tatoeba (327449)
Why are you being so defensive?
Source: tatoeba (1552685)
Tom's defensive.
Source: tatoeba (2107480)
Showing 4 of 17 available sentences.
Keep exploring
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.