- defend
- defend 1 Defend, protect, shield, guard, safeguard mean to keep secure from danger or against attack.Defend implies the use of means to ward off something that actually threatens or to repel something that actually attacks{
raise a large army to defend the country from aggression
}{guns used in defending the explorers against hostile incursions of the natives
}{the independence of the Supreme Court of the United States should be defended at all costs— Lippmann
}Protect implies the use of a covering as a bar to the admission or impact of what may injure or destroy{protect one's estate from intruders by a high wall
}{protect one's eyes from the sun by dark glasses
}{protect one's family by ample insurance
}{protect tobacco plants by a cheesecloth screen
}{the ring of old forts which so far had protected the city successfully— P. W. Thompson
}Shield differs from protect especially in its suggestion of a protective intervention comparable to a medieval warrior's shield before one exposed to imminent danger or actual attack{Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!— Shak.
}{I could scarcely believe that she would wish to shield her husband's murderer, if he were that— Rose Macaulay
}Guard implies a standing watch at or over for the sake of defense; it usually connotes vigilance{the entrances to the palace are well guarded
}{the president is always guarded by secret service men
}{the accumulation of private wealth in Boston, thriftily guarded by the canny Whigs— Brooks
}{inmates of a fortress are defended by its guns, protected by its walls, and guarded by sentries against surprise
}Safeguard, much more strongly than any of the preceding words, implies use of protective measures where merely potential danger exists{safeguard children who play on the streets
}{safeguard our shores from attack
}{in all this he was more than worldly- wise. He was safeguarding his own self-respect— Repplier
}Antonyms: combat: attack2 assert, *maintain, justify, vindicateAnalogous words: voice, vent, utter, *express, air: *explain, account, justify, rationalize: *support, champion, uphold, back defer, postpone, intermit, suspend, stay mean to cause a delay in an action, activity, or proceeding.Defer suggests little more than a putting off till a later time; ordinarily it implies an intentional delaying{defer a discussion of a proposal until more members are present
}{defer payment on a note
}{he deferred giving his son needed advice until he found the boy in a less refractory mood
}It may imply a delay in fulfillment, attainment, or fruition that is occasioned by conditions beyond one's control{hope deferred maketh the heart sick— Prov 13:12
}{reluctantly, he made up his mind to defer the more exacting examinations until another time— Cronin
}Postpone implies an intentional deferring, commonly until a definite time{postpone a meeting for a week
}{her dentist was willing to postpone her appointment until Saturday
}{I think that we had better postpone our look round the church until after lunch— Mackenzie
}Intermit implies a stopping for a time, usually as a measure of relief, and typically with an expectation of starting again after an interval{pray to the gods to intermit the plague— Shak.
}{when seriously urged to intermit his application [to study], and allow himself a holiday— Pattison
}Suspend denotes a stopping or making inoperative for a time and usually for a reason (as personal desire or a legal restriction) that is implicit or explicit in the context{Eleanor's work was suspended while she gazed with increasing astonishment— Austen
}{suspend trolley service during the parade
}{Henchard gave orders that the proceedings were to be suspended— Hardy
}{Congress has authorized the president to suspend the operation of a statute— Justice Holmes
}{suspend one's judgment of a person charged with a crime
}Stay implies the interposition of an obstacle to something that is in progress; it may suggest bringing it to a complete stop, but more often it suggests an intermitting or suspending or a slackening of pace{two spectators started forward, but she stayed them with a motion of her hand— Dickens
}{they couldn't stay the flow of her ideas by reminding her how much the alteration would cost— Mary Austin
}{when his mind fails to stay the pace set by its inventions, madness must ensue—Day Lewis
}Analogous words: *delay, retard, slowContrasted words: hasten, hurry, *speed, accelerate
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
