self-defense

English

Alternative forms

• self defense, self-defence, self defence

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

self-defense (usually uncountable, plural self-defenses)

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.
   • 2013 July 10, Patrik Jonsson, “George Zimmerman speaks, but won’t testify in his defense”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[1]:

     The case inspired widespread rallies and “Million Hoodie Marches” in early 2012, after Sanford, Fla., police refused to charge Zimmerman with a crime, saying they couldn’t counter his self-defense claim. A special state prosecutor indicted him 44 days later. The trial began June 10.

Translations

means of defending oneself from attack

• Albanian: vetëmbrojtje (sq) f
• Arabic: دِفَاع عَنِ النَّفْسِ m (difāʕ ʕani n-nafsi)
• Armenian: ինքնապաշտպանություն (hy) (inkʻnapaštpanutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: özünüqoruma, özünümüdafiə
• Belarusian: самаабаро́на f (samaabaróna)
• Bulgarian: самоотбра́на (bg) f (samootbrána)
• Catalan: autodefensa f, defensa personal f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自衛 / 自卫 (zh) (zìwèi), 護身 / 护身 (zh) (hùshēn)

• Czech: sebeobrana f
• Danish: selvforsvar n
• Dutch: zelfverdediging (nl) f
• Estonian: enesekaitse
• Faroese: sjálvverja f
• Finnish: itsepuolustus (fi)
• French: autodéfense (fr) f
• Georgian: თავდაცვა (tavdacva)
• German: Selbstverteidigung (de) f
• Greek: αυτοάμυνα (el) f (aftoámyna)
• Hebrew: הִתְגּוֹנְנוּת f (hitgonenut), הֲגָנָה עַצְמִית f (haganá astmít)
• Hungarian: önvédelem (hu)
• Italian: autodifesa (it) f
• 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)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: selvforsvar n

• Persian: دِفاعِ شَخْصی (defâ'-e šaxsi)
• Polish: samoobrona (pl) f
• Portuguese: autodefesa (pt) f, defesa pessoal f
• Romanian: autoapărare (ro) f
• Russian: самооборо́на (ru) f (samooboróna)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: самоо̀дбрана f, самоо̀брана f

  Roman: samoòdbrana f, samoòbrana (sh) f

• Slovak: sebaobrana f
• Slovene: samoobramba f
• Spanish: autodefensa (es) f, defensa personal f
• Swedish: självförsvar (sv) n
• Tamil: தற்காப்பு (ta) (taṟkāppu)
• Turkish: nefsi müdafaa (tr)
• Ukrainian: самооборо́на f (samooboróna)
• Vietnamese: sự tự vệ (vi)

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)
• Catalan: legítima defensa f
• Faroese: neyðverja f
• Finnish: hätävarjelu (fi)
• French: légitime défense (fr) f
• Georgian: თავდაცვა (tavdacva)
• German: Notwehr (de) f
• Greek: αυτοάμυνα (el) f (aftoámyna)
• Hungarian: (jogos) önvédelem
• Indonesian: pembelaan terpaksa
• Japanese: 正当防衛 (ja) (せいとうぼうえい, seitōbōei)
• Macedonian: самоодбрана f (samoodbrana)
• Malay: pertahanan kendiri
• Polish: samoobrona (pl) f
• Portuguese: autodefesa (pt) f, legítima defesa f
• Romanian: legitimă apărare (ro) f
• Russian: самооборо́на (ru) f (samooboróna), самозащи́та (ru) f (samozaščíta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: самоо̀дбрана f, самоо̀брана f

  Roman: samoòdbrana f, samoòbrana (sh) f

• Spanish: defensa propia f, legítima defensa f
• Swedish: nödvärn (sv) n
• Ukrainian: самооборо́на f (samooboróna), самоза́хист m (samozáxyst)

See also

• stand-your-ground law
• castle doctrine