noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a defence force
▪ Should the European Union have its own defence force?
a defence lawyer (=a lawyer who tries to prove in court that someone is not guilty)
▪ This evidence was given to the defence lawyer.
a defence witness
▪ A defence witness said that Carter was not holding a gun when the shot was fired.
a witness for the prosecution/defence
▪ Witnesses for the prosecution have not sounded convincing.
civil defence
defence cuts
▪ Further proposals for defence cuts were drawn up.
defence mechanism
defence/control/survival mechanism
▪ When a person is ill, the body’s natural defence mechanisms come into operation.
defence/energy/housing etc policy
▪ Our energy policies must put the environment first.
defence/welfare/education etc spending (=spending on defence etc)
▪ Further cuts in defence spending are being considered.
foreign/defence/finance etc minister
▪ a meeting of EU foreign ministers
military/defence expenditure (=money that a government spends on the armed forces)
▪ Military expenditure has been growing year on year.
spirited defence/debate/discussion etc
stout defence/support/resistance
▪ He put up a stout defence in court.
the defence/education etc budget
▪ We had to make cuts in the defence budget.
the military/defence establishment
▪ The committee has many political figures who are close to the military establishment.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
civil
▪ But the fact remains that the safeguards themselves do not prevent the government using civil plutonium for defence purposes.
▪ The country has made few preparations for civil defence.
▪ These difficulties were greatly exacerbated by poor civil defence planning.
foreign
▪ If the Government ever had any ideas about foreign and defence policy, they have run out of them.
▪ There are no significant new constraints on governments to make joint foreign, defence, immigration or policing policies.
▪ Threats, not pillars, will decide whether the members devise joint foreign or defence policies.
▪ Mr Kostunica's main power is in appointing the foreign and defence ministers and the army chief of staff.
▪ June 1994: Elections to EP. 1996: Intergovernmental conference to review foreign policy and defence.
good
▪ The best form of defence is counter-attack.
▪ To pounce on their opponents, moreover, seemed the best defence.
▪ He did, of course benefit from having a very good defence.
▪ So long as he covers every arc of attack by maintaining a good defence, he will be safe.
▪ Crossbowmen and hand gunners are better in defence.
▪ Wire netting is the best defence against rabbits and squirrels, which will chew through plastic netting to plunder fruit crops.
▪ Her best defence may be her demure appearance.
▪ But it is a first step towards better value for defence dollars and D-marks.
national
▪ Pressing for a huge tax cut and insisting on his plans for a national missile defence fit this picture.
▪ There is already tension over the controversial national missile defence system.
▪ The key to the whole business was not politics or national defence.
▪ When a civil conflict eventually broke out in 1991, the national defence force was unable to provide a credible response.
▪ The interesting issues in economics arise when, as with national defence, exclusion of certain individuals from consumption is effectively impossible.
only
▪ And appearing only for the defence has always seemed too easy an option.
▪ The only defence open to enterprises and manufacturing industry would be a chaotic cut in their demand for these raw materials.
▪ Because her only defence was to turn him against her, she realised with a pang of sorrow.
▪ Until his body recovered from the effects of the psychic blast this was his only means of defence.
▪ The only defence is that the estate agent took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence.
▪ He resorted to his only hopeless defence ... and screwed his eyes shut.
■ NOUN
budget
▪ Only the defence budget will see the benefit of prosperity.
▪ With commitment and amounts of cash that seemed paltry when compared with government defence budgets, that problem could be solved.
▪ Congress still has a big role to play in shaping the missile defence budget.
▪ After yesterday's announcement of huge cuts in the defence budget, things can only get worse.
▪ The majority of voters also favoured cuts in the defence budget and level or increased Spending on domestic education and health programmes.
▪ His plans to slash defence budgets by £6 billion would cost 100,000 more their jobs.
▪ He believed in big defence budgets and plenty of parades.
counsel
▪ His defence counsel contended that a suspended sentence would enable Chemouil to pay compensation to the victim.
▪ Hakkar's defence counsel requested a postponement, which was refused, and was unable to attend the hearing.
▪ They had been tried without benefit of defence counsel before the Public Tribunal, a special court which was subject to Government influence.
▪ Hyde's defence counsel has told Northampton Crown court that provocation would be an issue in the trial.
▪ Coffin wondered what a defence counsel would have made of that lack if the case had ever come to trial.
▪ The defence counsel said that appeals would be made against the verdicts.
▪ The defence counsel said the defendant had admitted losing his temper on finding out that the girl was under age.
▪ After the last prosecution witness had given his statement, Kesselring's defence counsel rose to give his opening address.
cut
▪ The management say Government defence cuts are to blame.
expenditure
▪ Greatly increased taxes and a major shift back to defence expenditure could be the least of our worries.
▪ Male speaker Under Options for Change we could see there was going to be a reduction in defence expenditure.
▪ It is amazing what we hear from Opposition Members, when they intend to cut defence expenditure.
▪ While military spending was constrained by the renunciation of belligerency, this does not mean that defence expenditure is insignificant.
▪ By contrast defence expenditure was cut, chiefly by reducing national service from 14 months to 12.
force
▪ Armed forces: No standing defence forces.
▪ Armed forces: defence force disbanded in 1981; approximately 300 police.
▪ An army spokesman said that the security vetting of personnel was a normal procedure in all defence forces.
▪ MacArthur was dedicated to the extirpation of militarism and did not favour the development of defence forces.
▪ But obvious problems will centre on the security situation, and the reconstruction of the defence forces and the economy.
▪ When a civil conflict eventually broke out in 1991, the national defence force was unable to provide a credible response.
▪ After working in the prison service, he joined the defence forces before becoming an intelligence agent.
industry
▪ The company still plans to sell off Thorn Security and Electronics, which makes security and surveillance equipment for the defence industry.
▪ It has no great defence industries, no strategic significance.
▪ An emerging contemporary example of radical change is in the business which to date has been concerned with the defence industries.
▪ When you're in a defence industry that is inevitable.
▪ The Secretary of State has presided over the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the defence industry in recent years.
▪ In a town such as Shrewsbury, a high proportion of manufacturing is linked to the defence industry.
▪ He met management and workers at Swan Hunter's and Vickers, two firms who depend on the defence industry for work.
lawyer
▪ Both prosecution and defence lawyers gave eloquent closing speeches.
▪ But a defence lawyer suggested that at the time this was the normal practise in football, and Steve White agreed.
▪ Cross-examination by defence lawyers should also be videotaped at an informal hearing before trial, with the press and public excluded.
▪ Macarthy, the defence lawyer, found himself in the position of trying to defend the indefensible and justify the unjustifiable.
▪ When the session was adjourned, the judiciary and defence lawyers gave conflicting accounts of the outcome.
▪ Gen Jaruzelski's defence lawyers first filed a motion requesting more evidence from prosecutors before charges were laid.
▪ There was an eloquent and impassioned speech from Mr Wash, Woolridge's defence lawyer.
▪ The trial was suspended the same day after the 19 defence lawyers walked out, and then postponed until July 12.
mechanism
▪ When it's cold, the body sets its own range of defence mechanisms in motion.
▪ What appears to be contrary can always be assimilated as evidence of repression, or as a defence mechanism.
▪ Inflammation is another internal defence mechanism and is a reaction of living tissue to infection, injury and irritants.
▪ And if our defence mechanism is impaired, what other dangers may we not be open to?
▪ I note this, and harp on her imperfections, as a defence mechanism.
▪ The ideal candidate will have experience of protein purification and gene cloning and should have an appreciation of plant defence mechanisms.
▪ Where did she get this automatic shutdown defence mechanism?
▪ Everyone's got a defence mechanism.
minister
▪ The strongest force there is run by Ahmed Shah Masoud, the defence minister.
▪ He sent the defence minister, Peter Reith, in his place.
▪ Mr Hikmatyar is trying to wrest control of the capital from the defence minister, Ahmad Shah Masood.
▪ At Mr Ugaz's request, the defence minister has ordered an audit of all military purchases since 1990.
▪ In a weekend of violence, the defence minister, Khaled Nezzar, narrowly escaped from a car bomb attack.
▪ Labour's shadow defence minister Martin O'Neill also visited Newcastle.
▪ His move led to the resignation of his defence minister and many senior generals.
missile
▪ Pressing for a huge tax cut and insisting on his plans for a national missile defence fit this picture.
▪ The missile defence issue is without question the most troublesome, time-consuming and potentially dangerous item on the current international agenda.
▪ It has dangerously upset the strategic balance by proposing a new national missile defence system.
▪ In particular, the relationship is becoming increasingly bedevilled by the issue of anti-#missile defence.
▪ The latest example concerns the controversial missile defence system proposed by the United States.
▪ Congress still has a big role to play in shaping the missile defence budget.
▪ Agreeing on the system, and the budget, for missile defence is going to be a long business.
▪ Bush's speech pushed the political boundaries of the missile defence issue much further than he has done before.
policy
▪ Bush's defence policy would not work, would cost too much and would destabilise the world, said Gore.
▪ Threats, not pillars, will decide whether the members devise joint foreign or defence policies.
▪ Questions of defence policy are vast, complicated, confidential, and wholly unsuited for ventilation before a jury.
▪ That is why the Opposition's defence policy is incredible.
secretary
▪ Since he resigned as defence secretary over the Westland helicopter affair in 1986, he has campaigned for an active industrial policy.
▪ But Donald Rumsfeld's appointment as defence secretary makes those predictions look naive.
▪ The defence secretary paused, and then said that such questions were decided by the president, not by him.
▪ Powell lost his bid to have his ally Richard Armitage, appointed as deputy defence secretary under Rumsfeld.
▪ One notable exception was John Tower, the choice for defence secretary of former president George Bush.
▪ Mr Bush has been careful to balance practical types like his defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, with policy wonks.
self
▪ Relatives of the men say they were wrongly convicted, as they had acted in self defence.
▪ They claimed that when they were surrounded by the gang they acted in self defence.
▪ Relatives of Poole and Mills say the two men were acting in self defence.
▪ She said it was self defence.
▪ Or are you innocent because you acted in self defence?
▪ The jury cleared him, deciding that Mr Waller had acted in self defence.
▪ As it rears up in self defence, it spreads its wide hood to reveal a massive pair of eye-spots.
▪ They claim they were acting in self defence.
spending
▪ Defence Minister Moshe Arens had successfully argued that defence spending could not be reduced in the light of the ongoing Gulf crisis.
▪ This included 7,777,400 million won for defence spending, an increase of 12.9 percent over the previous year.
▪ The Ministry of Defence announced today that it will close in 20 months time as part of cutbacks in defence spending.
▪ United States defence spending has been a key driving force behind much of the electronics, telecommunications and computer industries.
▪ The obvious candidate is defence spending.
▪ There has been a comparable fall in support for increasing military defence spending and compulsory military service.
▪ The government on June 13 revealed the exact levels of defence spending, which had hitherto been secret.
▪ The government was committed to further major reductions in defence spending.
system
▪ There is already tension over the controversial national missile defence system.
▪ And the ground defence system had not got one shot off in retaliation.
▪ This virus affects the body's defence system so that it can not fight infection.
▪ Between Achanalt and Achnasheen there are no real breaches in their defence system.
▪ The drug's designed to stimulate the body's own defence system to fight the virus.
▪ Take for example, the national missile-defence system proposed by the United States, and strongly supported by George Bush.
▪ Examples of such systems include: defence systems, satellite communication systems, transportation systems, manufacturing systems and economic systems.
▪ In common with all other forms of fire defence systems, however, a sprinkler system has limitations.
■ VERB
provide
▪ Nor can they have been substantial enough to have provided defence against further attacks from the Huns or from the Alamans.
▪ As to the point of ownership of lorries, that would not in itself have provided a defence.
▪ Even if it is feasible, there is no guarantee that this would provide a defence to an infringement action.
▪ The law, which provided F437,800 million for defence equipment spending, was adopted on Dec. 18, 1989.
▪ Why is the government directly involved in providing defence, schools, and health services?
▪ This means that, even though an exemption clause on its wording apparently provides a defence, it may nevertheless be ineffective.
▪ The Secretary of State did not provide a good defence of the Government's proposition.
▪ Delusion-formation in paranoid disorders makes use of this process to provide defence against the passive homosexual wish.
spend
▪ In summary, governments have many reasons for spending so much on defence.
▪ The economy remained on a war footing during 1989 with between 30 and 40 percent of the budget being spent on defence.
▪ In all, nearly 31 million pounds had been spent on war and defence from 1540 until 1552.
▪ Caps on discretionary spending were not raised, nor was spending transferred from the defence to domestic programmes.
▪ In the West small countries that refuse to spend big on defence technology are frequently criticised for not pulling their weight.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
leap to sb's defence
▪ But the girlfriend of deputy manager John Onanuga leapt to his defence.
▪ Did Geoffrey leap to the defence of every person with disabilities whom he encountered?
▪ The stats cant leap to his defence either.
let your guard/defences down
▪ Never let your guard down was the only solace he offered.
▪ We must not let our defences down, Mrs Thatcher and other cautious voices would argue.
spring to sb's defence
▪ Equally notable figures will spring to the defence of the secret deal, however.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Defence spending has risen by 10% in the current budget.
▪ The defence industry relies heavily on sales of weapons to foreign countries.
▪ The article was a rather unconvincing defence of her economic record.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A quick break by Swansea after 17 minutes again exposed the Chester defence.
▪ Before this defence has any role to play it must be shown that the defendant has committed a tort.
▪ Browning's defence lawyer says this and other evidence could have been crucial if heard by the trial jury.
▪ Even if it is feasible, there is no guarantee that this would provide a defence to an infringement action.
▪ He thought your freelance Mrs Howard represented the same thing that he thinks he represents himself: the defence of this country.
▪ Middlesbrough were growing in confidence all the time, winning the midfield battle and occasionally opening the Ipswich defence.
▪ National Research Laboratories are large, publicly owned defence research and development establishments.
▪ Nowhere in one leading textbook is it treated of as a defence.