Definition of "on the defensive" [on the defensive]

• Prepared to defend or protect against criticism, attack or aggression (adjective)

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• "The administration was already on the defensive on arms control because Senator Jackson had mounted a vigorous February challenge to Warnkes confirmation as arms control negotiator."
• "He temporizes and acts on the defensive when a superior force and the peculiar circumstances of his army compel him to adopt such conduct."
• "As the physically weaker sex, women are always in danger of economic and personal exploitation and legal powerlessness3; and as the objects of the sensuous desire of men, they must always hold themselves on the defensive against the other sex."