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Defense vs Refuge - What's the difference?

defense | refuge | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between defense and refuge

is that defense is the action of defending or protecting from attack, danger, or injury while refuge is a state of safety, protection or shelter.

As a verb refuge is

to return to a place of shelter.

defense

English

Alternative forms

* defence (British)

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.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * offense

    Derived terms

    * antidefense * ecodefense * Nuremberg defense * defensive * defensiveness * defensive scheme * defensive system

    refuge

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A state of safety, protection or shelter.
  • * Milton
    • Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these / Find place or refuge .
  • A place providing safety, protection or shelter.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
  • Something or someone turned to for safety or assistance; a recourse or resort.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 21, author=Helen Pidd, work=the Guardian
    • , title= Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis , passage=Since its conception, the European Union has been a haven for those seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty in other parts of the world.}}
  • An expedient to secure protection or defence.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Their latest refuge / Was to send him.

    Synonyms

    * haven * sanctuary * zoar

    Derived terms

    * refugee * refugium

    Verb

    (refug)
  • To return to a place of shelter.
  • * 2011 , Michael D. Gumert, ?Agustín Fuentes, ?Lisa Jones-Engel, Monkeys on the Edge
    • Among these macaques, although activity cycles are quite variable from location to location, refuging is a common characteristic.
  • (obsolete) To shelter; to protect.
    • ----