protests

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of protest.

   The protests lasted for three days without any sign of violence.

   Student protests forced the administration to reconsider the tuition hike.

   Note

   The countable side of protest: one objection or demonstration is a protest, several are protests. When the word names a general stance of objection rather than separate events, it stays uncountable and singular. Two specialist senses pluralize the same way: a notary's formal protest of an unpaid bill, and a ship master's written declaration of loss or damage. The same spelling also serves as the verb's present form.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of protest.

   The union protests the new policy at every committee meeting.

   Each spring, the small town protests the closure of its only library.

   Note

   Which construction follows depends on the meaning. For demonstrating against something, US and Canadian usage puts the object straight after the verb, as in the union protests the policy. Elsewhere that sense is intransitive and takes against. A separate transitive use affirms rather than objects: she protests her innocence. In banking, a notary protests an unpaid bill by formally declaring its non-payment.

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