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Harass vs Defend - What's the difference?

harass | defend |

As verbs the difference between harass and defend

is that harass is to fatigue or to tire with repeated and exhausting efforts while defend is defends, protects (3rd person singular, present tense).

As a noun harass

is (obsolete) devastation; waste.

harass

English

Verb

(es)
  • To fatigue or to tire with repeated and exhausting efforts.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or
  • To annoy endlessly or systematically; to molest.
  • * 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 23[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/23]
  • In my old home, I always knew that John and my master were my friends; but here, although in many ways I was well treated, I had no friend. York might have known, and very likely did know, how that rein harassed me; but I suppose he took it as a matter of course that could not be helped; at any rate nothing was done to relieve me.
  • To put excessive burdens upon; to subject to anxieties.
  • in the early 1940s.

    Synonyms

    * hassle * harry * chivy or chivvy * chevy or chevvy * beset * plague * molest * provoke

    Derived terms

    * harasser * harassment

    Noun

  • (obsolete) devastation; waste
  • (Milton)
  • (obsolete) worry; harassment
  • (Byron)

    defend

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).
  • *1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.viii:
  • *:The vertue is, that neither steele, nor stone / The stroke thereof from entrance may defend .
  • (obsolete) To prevent, to keep (from doing something).
  • (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To prohibit, forbid.
  • *:
  • *:Broder said sir launcelot wete ye wel I am ful lothe to departe oute of this realme / but the quene hath defended me soo hyhely / that me semeth she wille neuer be my good lady as she hath ben
  • To ward off attacks from; to fight to protect; to guard.
  • To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.
  • (legal) To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 14, author=Steven Morris, work=Guardian
  • , title= Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , passage=Philip Miles, defending , said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."}}
  • (sports) To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.
  • (sports) To attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one did in the previous edition of that competition.
  • (poker slang) To call a raise from the big blind.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * attack

    Anagrams

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