defy

CEFRB2

/dɪˈfaɪ/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
verb
To refuse to obey or accept something.
02
verb
Extra detail
To not conform to or follow a pattern, set of rules or expectations.

Examples

I defy you to make it public.
I defy you to solve the problem.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

To refuse to obey.
To challenge (someone) or brave (a hazard or opposition).
To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.

More examples

In context

I wouldn't have dared to defy my teachers.
1603-1625, Beaumont and Fletcher For thee I have defied my constant mistress.
If you defy your teacher you may end up in detention.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The brave activist continues to blank the oppressive regime's unjust laws.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

I once again / Defie thee to the trial of mortal fight.
1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes
By tossing this nineteenth electron back and forth between its own orbit and that of its lost companion more than twenty-five thousand times a second, a mutilated stone atom is able partially to defy gravity and thus successfully to ride the emerging streams of light and energy, the sunbeams, to liberty and adventure.
1955, anonymous author, The Urantia Book, Paper 41
“To be determined,” Kane said, “is whether Griner and her towering skill and engaging personality will defy the odds and attract corporate sponsors as part of widespread public acceptance four decades after passage of the gender-equity legislation known as Title IX.”
2013, Jeré Longman, “W.N.B.A. Hopes Griner Can Change Perceptions, as Well as Game Itself”, in New York Times
"So you actually think yours is good-looking?" sneered the Baker. "Why, I could make a better-looking one out of a piece of dough." "I defy you to," the Hansom-driver replied. "A face like mine is not easily copied. Nor am I the only person of that opinion. All the ladies think that I am beautiful. And of course I go by what they think."
1900, Edith King Hall, Adventures in Toyland Chapter 6
Before coalition forces arrived, Iraq was ruled by a dictatorship that murdered its own citizens, threatened its neighbors, and defied the world.
2005, George W. Bush, Presidential Radio Address - 19 March 2005

Keep defy

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Origin

verb

From Old French desfier, from Vulgar Latin *disfidare (“renounce one's faith”), from Latin dis- (“away”) + fidus (“faithful”). Meaning shifted in the 14th century from "be disloyal" to "challenge". Contrast confide, fidelity, faith.

Deep Dive

verb

More examples

Quick test

The brave activist continues to blank— the oppressive regime's unjust laws.

Nearby

Origin

verb

The brave activist continues to blank the oppressive regime's unjust laws.