defensor

See also: Defensor

English

Alternative forms

• defensour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin dēfēnsor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɛnsə(ɹ)/

Noun

defensor (plural defensors)

1. one who defends; a defender
2. (law) a defender or advocate in court; a guardian or protector
3. (ecclesiastical) the patron of a church; an officer having charge of the temporal affairs of a church

Derived terms

• defensorship

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “defensor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• fore-ends, foresend

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dēfēnsōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [də.fənˈso]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [de.fenˈsoɾ]

Adjective

defensor (feminine defensora, masculine plural defensors, feminine plural defensores)

1. defending

Noun

defensor m (plural defensors, feminine defensora, feminine plural defensores)

1. defender
2. (law) defense attorney

Related terms

• defendre

Further reading

• “defensor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “defensor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “defensor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “defensor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Etymology

From Latin dēfēnsor.

Noun

defensor m (plural defensores, feminine defensora, feminine plural defensoras)

1. defender

Related terms

• defender

Further reading

• “defensor”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• “defensor”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2025
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “defensor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “defensor”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “defensor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “defensor”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Ido

Verb

defensor

1. future infinitive of defensar

Latin

Etymology

From dēfendō (“I defend”) +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [deːˈfẽː.sɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [deˈfɛn.sor]

Noun

dēfēnsor m (genitive dēfēnsōris, feminine dēfēnstrīx or dēfēnsātrīx); third declension

1. one who defends

   Synonyms: vindex, cū̆stōs, praeses, appāritor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	dēfēnsor	dēfēnsōrēs
genitive	dēfēnsōris	dēfēnsōrum
dative	dēfēnsōrī	dēfēnsōribus
accusative	dēfēnsōrem	dēfēnsōrēs
ablative	dēfēnsōre	dēfēnsōribus
vocative	dēfēnsor	dēfēnsōrēs

Derived terms

• dēfēnsor cīvitātis
• dēfēnsōrius

Descendants

• Catalan: defensor
• → English: defensor
• French: défenseur
• Galician: defensor
• Italian: difensore
• Portuguese: defensor
• Spanish: defensor

References

• “defensor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “defensor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "defensor", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to drive the defenders from the walls: murum nudare defensoribus
    

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin dēfēnsor.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /de.fẽˈsoʁ/ [de.fẽˈsoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /de.fẽˈsoʁ/ [de.fẽˈsoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /de.fẽˈsoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /de.fẽˈsoʁ/ [de.fẽˈsoχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /de.fẽˈsoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨ.fẽˈsoɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨ.fẽˈsoɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨ.fẽˈso.ɾi/

Noun

defensor m (plural defensores, feminine defensora, feminine plural defensoras)

1. defender (someone or something which defends)
2. advocate (person who speaks in support of something)
3. (law) defender (a lawyer)

Related terms

• defender
• defensão
• defensável
• defesa

Further reading

• “defensor”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “defensor”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
• “defensor” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “defensor”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “defensor”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “defensor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French défenseur, from Latin defensor.

Noun

defensor m (plural defensori)

1. (law) defender

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	defensor	defensorul		defensori	defensorii
genitive-dative	defensor	defensorului		defensori	defensorilor
vocative	defensorule			defensorilor

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin dēfēnsor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /defenˈsoɾ/ [d̪e.fẽnˈsoɾ]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: de‧fen‧sor

Adjective

defensor (feminine defensora, masculine plural defensores, feminine plural defensoras)

1. defending

Derived terms

• abogado defensor

Noun

defensor m (plural defensores, feminine defensora, feminine plural defensoras)

1. defender
2. advocate

Further reading

• “defensor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024