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Adverb: defensively  di'fen-siv-lee
  1. In an apologetic and defensive manner
    "'I felt it better you should know,' said Sir Cedric defensively"
     
  2. In a defensive manner
    "the general conviction that our side is in the right and acting defensively over what Russians call the German question and Americans the Berlin crisis"

Antonym: offensively

Nearest

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defenselessly
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defer
deference
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deferred payment
defervesce