Defiant
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 One who defies opposition.
"Countries condemning South Africa, Portugal and Rhodesia still find it necessary to trade with these defiants against so-called world opinion."
- 1 Defying.
"She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough![…]What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’"
- 2 Boldly resisting opposition.
"But the demonstrators remained defiant, pouring into the streets by the thousands and venting their anger over political corruption, the high cost of living and huge public spending for the World Cup and the Olympics."
- 1 boldly resisting authority or an opposing force wordnet
Example
More examples"The defiant manner is characteristic of teenagers."
Etymology
Borrowed from French défiant, from the verb défier. Doublet of diffident. By surface analysis, def(i) + -ant.
Related phrases
More for "defiant"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.