What does defeat mean?

Definitions for defeat
dɪˈfitde·feat

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word defeat.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. defeat, lickingnoun

    an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest

    "it was a narrow defeat"; "the army's only defeat"; "they suffered a convincing licking"

  2. frustration, defeatverb

    the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals

  3. get the better of, overcome, defeatverb

    win a victory over

    "You must overcome all difficulties"; "defeat your enemies"; "He overcame his shyness"; "He overcame his infirmity"; "Her anger got the better of her and she blew up"

  4. kill, shoot down, defeat, vote down, vote outverb

    thwart the passage of

    "kill a motion"; "he shot down the student's proposal"

Wiktionary

  1. defeatnoun

    The act of defeating or being defeated

  2. defeatverb

    To overcome in battle or contest.

    Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

  3. defeatverb

    To destroy, ruin, undo, lay waste to.

  4. defeatverb

    To nullify; to reduce, to nothing, the strength of.

  5. Etymology: from desfait, from the verb desfaire des + faciō (to unmake).

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. DEFEATnoun

    Etymology: from defaire, French.

    End Marlb’rough’s work, and finish the defeat. Addison.

    A king, upon whose life
    A damn’d defeat was made. William Shakespeare, Hamlet.

  2. To Defeatverb

    Etymology: from the noun.

    Ye gods, ye make the weak most strong;
    Therein, ye gods, ye tyrants do defeat. William Shakespeare, Jul. Cæsar.

    They invaded Ireland, and were defeated by the lord Mountjoy. Francis Bacon, on the War with Spain.

    To his accusations
    He pleaded still not guilty, and alleg’d
    Many sharp reasons to defeat the law. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

    Death,
    Then due by sentence when thou did’st transgress,
    Defeated of his seizure, many days,
    Giv’n thee of grace. John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. i. l. 254.

    Discover’d, and defeated of your prey,
    You skulk’d. John Dryden, Virg. Past. 3.

    He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being, that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes. John Tillotson.

ChatGPT

  1. defeat

    Defeat is the act of being beaten or subdued in a competition, conflict, or struggle. It refers to the state of losing against an opponent, whether in a literal game, battle, or any form of contest, or metaphorically in terms of failing to achieve a goal or objective. It is the opposite of victory or success.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Defeatverb

    to undo; to disfigure; to destroy

  2. Defeatverb

    to render null and void, as a title; to frustrate, as hope; to deprive, as of an estate

  3. Defeatverb

    to overcome or vanquish, as an army; to check, disperse, or ruin by victory; to overthrow

  4. Defeatverb

    to resist with success; as, to defeat an assault

  5. Defeat

    an undoing or annulling; destruction

  6. Defeat

    frustration by rendering null and void, or by prevention of success; as, the defeat of a plan or design

  7. Defeat

    an overthrow, as of an army in battle; loss of a battle; repulse suffered; discomfiture; -- opposed to victory

  8. Etymology: [Cf. F. dfaite, fr. dfaire. See Defeat, v.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Defeat

    de-fēt′, v.t. to frustrate: to ruin.—n. a frustration of plans: ruin: overthrow, as of an army in battle.—n. Defeat′ure (Spens.), defeat: disfigurement, disguise. [O. Fr. defait, defaire, to undo—L. dis, neg. facĕre, to do.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. defeat

    This word expresses the complete want of success of an army; a repulse signifying less, and a rout more, than defeat.

  2. defeat

    To resist with success; as, to defeat an assault.

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'defeat' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3245

  2. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'defeat' in Nouns Frequency: #1306

  3. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'defeat' in Verbs Frequency: #623

How to pronounce defeat?

How to say defeat in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of defeat in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of defeat in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of defeat in a Sentence

  1. Joe Biden:

    Folks, you are all part of the movement... A movement that is going to defeat Donald Trump and restore this nation.

  2. Pat Ryan:

    Remember this energy, we answered the darkness, the divisiveness, the cynicism with hope, with positivity. With people power. Remember that. We are going to take that into November. We are going to defeat threats to our democracy. To our safety. To our freedom.

  3. Marcus Leal:

    Now it is a double defeat for the city: sport and environment.

  4. Frank Kendall:

    We have been doing some things to try to address the problem. This is a serious problem for the country. It is not just missiles it is other things such as electronic warfare capability, anti-satellite capability – a number of things which I think that are being developed very consciously to defeat the American way of projecting power. We need to respond to that.

  5. Peter Cook:

    When conducting our operations, the U.S. military goes to extraordinary lengths to limit the risk of civilian casualties, and in our campaign to defeat ISIL we will continue to do so.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

defeat#1#8135#10000

Translations for defeat

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"defeat." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/defeat>.

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    (of especially persons) lacking sense or understanding or judgment
    A soft-witted
    B foreordained
    C epidemic
    D indiscernible

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