Lexic.us

Definition of Defeat

1. Noun. An unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest. "They suffered a convincing licking"

2. Verb. Win a victory over. "The fighter managed to defeat his opponent"; "Her anger got the better of her and she blew up"

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

4. Verb. Thwart the passage of. "He shot down the student's proposal"

Definition of Defeat

1. v. t. To undo; to disfigure; to destroy.

2. n. An undoing or annulling; destruction.

Definition of Defeat

1. Verb. To overcome in battle or contest. ¹

2. Verb. To destroy, ruin, undo, lay waste to.(rfex) ¹

3. Verb. To nullify; to reduce, to nothing, the strength of. ¹

4. Noun. The act of defeating or being defeated ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Defeat

1. to win victory over [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Defeat

defaultiness defaulting defaults defaulty defeasance defeasanced defeasances defeasaunce defeasibilities defeasibility

defeasible defeasible fee defeasible fees defeasibleness defeasibly defeat (current term) defeatable defeated defeatedly defeatedness

defeater defeaters defeatican defeaticans defeating defeatism defeatisms defeatist defeatists defeatocrat

Literary usage of Defeat

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1900)
"defeat an4 fleetest of his horses. He was pursued and taken by the titular ... and after his capture, and the defeat of the Ottoman powers, the kingdom of ..."

2. Southern History of the War by Edward Alfred Pollard (1865)
"His Flanking Movement.— Engagement in Resaca Valley.—Johnston's Retreat —Engagement at New Hope.— Johnston's Telegram to Richmond.—defeat of ..."

3. South Eastern Reporter by West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, West Publishing Company, South Carolina Supreme Court (1922)
""There being in this state no statute inhibiting the sale of land by the husband to defeat his wife's right of dower, save as to lands to which the title ..."

4. The History of Rome by Wilhelm Ihne (1871)
"defeat and It was in 212 BC that Hasdrubal, ... Their Celtiberian mercenaries had deserted and gone 1 Thn defeat of Cn. Scipio suggests to Livy (xxv. ..."

5. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1867)
"It will be regarded as a contemporary account ofthat signal, defeat of the array of the Republic, and cannot fail to be of importance to the future ..."

6. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1886)
"The fact that he then went to Janesville to complete his education would no more defeat his citizenship in Illinois than it would defeat his citizenship in ..."

7. The Greville Memoirs: A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV. and King by Charles Greville, Henry Reeve (1874)
"... Talents as a Man of Business and Unpopularity—Sympathy of Continental Courts with the Tories—Abercromby elected Speaker—defeat of the Government—Tactics ..."

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