defeat
- 01 B1 Intermediate
v.to win a victory over someone in a war, a competition, or a game.
v.to overcome an opponent in a battle, contest, or competition. Transitive; requires a direct object representing the party that lost.
Simple“The local team managed to defeat the champions in a surprising final match.”
In context“The coalition forces worked together to defeat the insurgency, eventually restoring stability to the border regions after years of conflict.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to stop a plan or an idea from being successful.
v.to frustrate or prevent the success of a plan, purpose, or expectation.
Simple“A lack of funding might defeat our hopes of building a new community centre.”
In context“The complexity of the legal requirements threatened to defeat the merger before the final contracts could even be drafted.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
v.to make something legally void or to cancel its effect.
v.to render null and void; to cause a legal claim or action to fail.
Simple“The judge ruled that the new evidence was enough to defeat the plaintiff's claim.”
In context“The defence sought to defeat the motion by proving that the statute of limitations had already expired before the filing.”
Synonyms - 04 B1 Intermediate
n.an occasion when you lose a fight or a competition.
n.the state of being overcome or the instance of losing a contest. Countable when referring to specific events; uncountable as a general concept.
Simple“The general refused to admit defeat even when his army was surrounded.”
In context“After suffering a narrow defeat in the primary election, the candidate thanked her supporters and promised to continue her advocacy work.”
“The seven-time major champion was defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Emiliana Arango late on Friday in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.”
“Suzuki was poised to join Paris Saint-Germain this week but the Champions League winners, who defeated Villa in the Super Cup in Salzburg on Wednesday, pulled out of a deal worth about €35m (£30m).”
From Middle English defeten, from Middle English defet (“disfigured”, past participle) and defet (“defect”, noun), see Etymology 2 below.
From Middle English defet, from French deffet, desfait, past participle of the verb desfaire (compare modern French défaire), from des- + faire.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.