Open main menu

defeat

Contents

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French desfait, from the verb desfaire (compare modern French défaire), from des- + faire, or possibly from Vulgar Latin disfaciō, disfacere ‎(“unmake”), from Latin dis- + faciō.

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

defeat ‎(third-person singular simple present defeats, present participle defeating, simple past and past participle defeated)

  1. (transitive) To overcome in battle or contest.
    Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
  2. (transitive) To reduce, to nothing, the strength of.
    • Tillotson
      He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes.
    • A. W. Ward
      In one instance he defeated his own purpose.
  3. To nullify
    • Hallam
      The escheators […] defeated the right heir of his succession.

SynonymsEdit

To overcome in contest

Related termsEdit

Related terms

TranslationsEdit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

NounEdit

defeat ‎(plural defeats)

  1. The act of defeating or being defeated.
    • 2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport[1]:
      Two defeats in five games coming into this contest, and a draw with Everton, ultimately cost Sir Alex Ferguson's side in what became the most extraordinary finale to the league championship since Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield in 1989.

TranslationsEdit

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=defeat&oldid=40845576"
Read in another language
Last edited on 26 September 2016, at 00:02