Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words (original) (raw)

self-defense

noun

1. the act of defending one's person when physically attacked, as by countering blows or overcoming an assailant:
   the art of self-defense.
2. a claim or plea that the use of force or injuring or killing another was necessary in defending one's own person from physical attack:
   He shot the man who was trying to stab him and pleaded self-defense at the murder trial.
3. an act or instance of defending or protecting one's own interests, property, ideas, etc., as by argument or strategy.

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Example Sentences

A single 4-ounce container with a safety seal is generally allowed in checked baggage, but larger canisters of self-defense spray containing more than 2% by mass of tear gas are not, according to the TSA.

To prove the deputies committed a crime, prosecutors wrote, they’d have to show that the force was willful, unlawful and not self-defense.

When women do commit violent offenses, researchers have found the episodes often are tied to self-defense or coercion by an abusive partner.

But prosecutors said that the stab wounds were precise, clean and not made by someone in a self-defense posture.

Neely's attorneys maintain that he was acting in self-defense.