Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The party against which an action is brought.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Defensive; proper for defense.
  • In law, making defense; being in the attitude of a defendant: as, the party defendant.
  • noun One who defends against an assailant, or against the approach of evil or danger; a defender.
  • noun In law, a party sued in a court of law, whether in a civil or a criminal proceeding; one who is summoned into court, that he may have opportunity to defend, deny, or oppose the demand or charge, and maintain his own right.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Serving, or suitable, for defense; defensive.
  • adjective Making defense.
  • noun One who defends; a defender.
  • noun (Law) A person required to make answer in an action or suit; -- opposed to plaintiff.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law 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.
  • noun law In criminal proceedings, the accused.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person or institution against whom an action is brought in a court of law; the person being sued or accused

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From defend +‎ -ant

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  • It wasn't the ant's fault!

    December 25, 2009