Noun

(en noun) (US)

The action of defending or protecting from attack, danger, or injury.

Anything employed to oppose attack(s).

# A strategy and tactics employed to prevent the other team from scoring; contrasted with offense.

# The portion of a team dedicated to preventing the other team from scoring; contrasted with offense.

An argument in support or justification of something.

Government policy or (infra)structure related to the military.

Department of Defense

Prohibition; a prohibitory ordinance.

* Sir W. Temple

Severe defenses against wearing any linen under a certain breadth.

Noun

(en noun)

(logic) The negation in logic.

A refusal to comply with a request.

An assertion of untruth.

Refusal to believe a problem exists

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)

, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.}}

(dated, psychology) A defense mechanism involving a refusal to accept the truth of a phenomenon or prospect.

* 2007 Feb. 11, " No facts, just emotion," Washington Times (retrieved 11 June 2013):

"Denial " came out of the therapyspeak prevalent in the middle of the 20th century, especially as it was applied to confronting the reality of mortality. It was popularized as the first stage of grief, and quickly expanded to include refusal to confront any bad news or disturbing ideas.