defensive
n. countablen. a protective position or attitude you take when you feel someone is attacking you. It is often used in the phrase 'on the defensive'.
n. a position or state of readiness to resist an attack or criticism. Frequently used within the prepositional phrase 'on the defensive' to indicate a reactive or protective posture.
The team stayed on the defensive for most of the game.
When the reporter asked about the missing funds, the politician immediately went on the defensive and stopped answering questions.
The military commander decided to maintain a strong defensive along the river, choosing to wait for reinforcements rather than risking an open-field engagement.
From Middle French défensif. Morphologically defense + -ive.
Commonly used in the singular form within the idiomatic construction 'on the defensive'.
he was in the defensivehe was on the defensiveThe standard idiomatic expression for being in a protective state uses the preposition 'on', not 'in'.