Defence or defense

[irmamar]

Which one is better in BrE? My book says 'defence', the dictionary says 'defense'.

Thanks.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Which one is better in BrE? My book says 'defence', the dictionary says 'defense'.

Thanks.

BrE is defence. Definitely.

[irmamar]

Thank you.

[Jessica]

American English is defense too. I don't think defence is a word because I checked with MS (Microsoft Word) and defence isn't a word

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Jessica

American English is defense too. I don't think defence is a word because I checked with MS (Microsoft Word) and defence isn't a word

Jessica - please don't believe something just because Microsoft say it. They make software with millions of errors in it, and they know nothing about natural languages, especially English.

British English spells defence with a c, This is a well-known difference between British and American English, but Microsoft is American.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Jessica: Please note that the question was asking which was the spelling of the word in British English. Perikles has already provided the right answer.

...And even though Perikles is right about which sources of information one can trust, setting Microsoft's spell check to British English will mark "defense" as an error.

[hermit]

Right - AmE, "defense"; in Canada you'll find both spellings due to
proximity/influence of U.S. television, internet and cross-border travel
but officially Canada adheres to BrE spelling rules...

[JPablo]

That's right...
And I have also seen these spellings,
safeguard, support, advocacy...