Library / English Dictionary

DEFEAT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest

Example:

they suffered a convincing licking

Synonyms:

defeat; licking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("defeat" is a kind of...):

conclusion; ending; finish (event whose occurrence ends something)

failure (an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "defeat"):

heartbreaker (a narrow defeat or a defeat at the last minute)

lurch (a decisive defeat in a game (especially in cribbage))

rout (an overwhelming defeat)

shutout; skunk (a defeat in a game where one side fails to score)

debacle; drubbing; slaughter; thrashing; trouncing; walloping; whipping (a sound defeat)

waterloo (a final crushing defeat)

whitewash (a defeat in which the losing person or team fails to score)

Antonym:

victory (a successful ending of a struggle or contest)

Derivation:

defeat (thwart the passage of)

defeatist (someone who is resigned to defeat without offering positive suggestions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

defeat; frustration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("defeat" is a kind of...):

disappointment; letdown (a feeling of dissatisfaction that results when your expectations are not realized)

Derivation:

defeatist (someone who is resigned to defeat without offering positive suggestions)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Win a victory over

Example:

Her anger got the better of her and she blew up

Synonyms:

defeat; get the better of; overcome

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "defeat"):

come through; make it; pull round; pull through; survive (continue in existence after (an adversity, etc.))

conquer (overcome by conquest)

nose (defeat by a narrow margin)

upset (defeat suddenly and unexpectedly)

expel; rout; rout out (cause to flee)

lurch; skunk (defeat by a lurch)

overrun (seize the position of and defeat)

down (bring down or defeat (an opponent))

wallop (defeat soundly and utterly)

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

demolish; destroy (defeat soundly and humiliatingly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to defeat his opponent

Sense 2

Meaning:

Thwart the passage of

Example:

he shot down the student's proposal

Synonyms:

defeat; kill; shoot down; vote down; vote out

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "defeat" is one way to...):

blackball; negative; veto (vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

defeat (an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Summerlee was still so weak that it was an effort for him to stand; but the old man was full of a sort of surly courage which would never admit defeat.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They were loud in their praise of their foemen’s gallantry, and precise in their reasons for his defeat.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I have kept your name and reputation for you, and your peace and quiet, and your house and home too,” said Uriah, with a sulky, hurried, defeated air of compromise.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Why, that requires not this preparation; ye need not have come thus far and dragged your captain to the shame of a defeat merely to prove yourselves cowards.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The motivational and/or affective state of annoyance resulting from being blocked, thwarted, disappointed or defeated.

(Frustration, NCI Thesaurus)

There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Just as mammals have evolved defenses against viruses, viruses have evolved countermeasures to defeat cellular defenses.

(HIV-1 Infection Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

One was the great fire on shore, by which the defeated pirates lay carousing in the swamp.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The Gascon warrior winced a little at the allusion, nor were his countrymen around him better pleased, for on the only occasion when they had encountered the arms of France without English aid they had met with a heavy defeat.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Multidrug Resistance Inhibition involves interference with, or restraint of, the activities of biologic molecules or complexes involved in processes that increase the ability of cancer cells to counteract, defeat, or withstand the effects of multiple chemotherapeutic agents.

(Multidrug resistance inhibition, NCI Thesaurus)