A more thorough explanation:

A partial defense is a type of legal defense that reduces the amount of liability or damages assigned to the defendant, but does not completely eliminate it. This means that the defendant may still be held responsible for some of the harm caused, but not as much as they would be without the defense.

For example, in a personal injury case, the defendant may argue that the plaintiff was partially at fault for their own injuries. If the court agrees, the damages awarded to the plaintiff may be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to them. So if the plaintiff was found to be 25% at fault, they would only receive 75% of the damages they would have received if they were not at fault at all.

Another example of a partial defense is the defense of provocation in a criminal case. If the defendant can show that they were provoked into committing a crime, it may reduce the severity of the charges or the punishment they receive.

These examples illustrate how a partial defense can mitigate the amount of liability or damages assigned to the defendant, but does not completely eliminate it.