Defence or defense: which is correct?
Correct
defence (UK) / defense (US)
Avoid
defense (in UK English)
Avoid
defence (in US English)
Summary
Correct: defence (UK) / defense (US) — Avoid: defense (in UK English) / defence (in US English). Defence / defense = the action of protecting from attack; the case presented by the party being accused; the players who guard a goal.
Both spellings are correct in their own variety; pick one and use it consistently.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Source
- Oxford / Merriam-Webster
Why
Oxford: British English spells defence, offence and pretence with -ce; Merriam-Webster gives defense, offense and pretense as American standard. Note that defensive, offensive and defend are spelled the same way in both varieties.
Examples
- The team's defence (UK) / defense (US) held firm all match.
- She spoke in defence of the proposal.
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- Checked against
- Merriam-Webster / Oxford
- Spelling authority
- Merriam-Webster · Oxford English Dictionary / Oxford spelling · SCOWL
- Commonly confused and non-standard forms
- 64
- Dictionary
- Hunspell en_US / en_GB / en_AU / en_CA · Dictionary license: MIT AND BSD (SCOWL combined licence)