self-defense

self-defense

English

Alternative forms

• self defense, self-defence, self defence

Etymology

self- +‎ defense. First used by Hobbes in the 1650s.

Noun

self-defense (uncountable)

1. The means of defending oneself from physical attack.
2. (law) The right to protect oneself against violence by using reasonable force, which can be used as justification in several charges including murder, assault, and battery.

Translations

means of defending oneself from attack

Azerbaijani: özünüqoruma, özünümüdafiə Belarusian: самаабаро́на f (samaabaróna) Bulgarian: самоотбра́на (bg) f (samootbrána) Catalan: autodefensa f Chinese: Mandarin: 自衛／自卫 (zh), 自卫 (zh) (zìwèi), 護身／护身 (zh), 护身 (zh) (hùshēn) Czech: sebeobrana f Dutch: zelfverdediging (nl) f Faroese: sjálvverja f Finnish: itsepuolustus (fi) French: auto-défense f Georgian: თავდაცვა (tavdacva) German: Selbstverteidigung (de) f, Notwehr (de) f Greek: αυτοάμυνα (el) f (aftoámyna) Hungarian: önvédelem (hu) Japanese: 自己防衛 (じこぼうえい, jiko bōei) Korean: 자기방어(自己防禦) (jagibang'eo) Macedonian: самоодбрана f (samoodbrana) Malay: silat (ms) Polish: samoobrona (pl) f Portuguese: autodefesa (pt) f, defesa pessoal Romanian: autoapărare (ro) f Russian: самооборо́на (ru) f (samooboróna) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: самоодбрана f, самообрана f Roman: samoodbrana f, samoobrana (sh) f Slovak: sebaobrana f Spanish: autodefensa (es) f Swedish: självförsvar (sv) n Tamil: தற்காப்பு (ta) (taṟkāppu) Ukrainian: самооборо́на f (samooboróna)

law: the right to protect oneself against violence by using reasonable force

Azerbaijani: özünümüdafiə, zəruri müdafiə Belarusian: самаабаро́на f (samaabaróna) Bulgarian: самоотбра́на (bg) f (samootbrána) Faroese: neyðverja f Finnish: itsepuolustus (fi) French: légitime défense (fr) f Georgian: თავდაცვა (tavdacva) German: Selbstverteidigung (de) f, Notwehr (de) f Greek: αυτοάμυνα (el) f (aftoámyna) Hungarian: (jogos) önvédelem Macedonian: самоодбрана f (samoodbrana) Polish: samoobrona (pl) f Portuguese: autodefesa (pt) f, legítima defesa Romanian: legitimă apărare (ro) f Russian: самооборо́на (ru) f (samooboróna), самозащи́та (ru) f (samozaščíta) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: самоодбрана f Roman: samoodbrana f Spanish: defensa propia f, legítima defensa f Swedish: nödvärn (sv) n Ukrainian: самооборо́на f (samooboróna), самоза́хист m (samozáxyst)