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Defy
Definitions
- 1 A challenge. obsolete
"And, safe intrench'd within, her foes without defies"
- 1 To challenge (someone) or brave (a hazard or opposition). transitive
"to defy an enemy; to defy the power of a magistrate; to defy the arguments of an opponent; to defy public opinion"
- 2 challenge wordnet
- 3 To refuse to obey. transitive
"If you defy your teacher you may end up in detention."
- 4 resist or confront with resistance wordnet
- 5 To not conform to or follow a pattern, set of rules or expectations.
"By tossing this nineteenth electron back and forth between its own orbit and that of its lost companion more than twenty-five thousand times a second, a mutilated stone atom is able partially to defy gravity and thus successfully to ride the emerging streams of light and energy, the sunbeams, to liberty and adventure."
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- 6 elude, especially in a baffling way wordnet
- 7 To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. obsolete, transitive
"1603-1625, Beaumont and Fletcher For thee I have defied my constant mistress."
Etymology
From Old French desfier, from Vulgar Latin *disfidare (“renounce one's faith”), from Latin dis- (“away”) + fidus (“faithful”). Meaning shifted in the 14th century from "be disloyal" to "challenge". Contrast confide, fidelity, faith.
From Old French desfier, from Vulgar Latin *disfidare (“renounce one's faith”), from Latin dis- (“away”) + fidus (“faithful”). Meaning shifted in the 14th century from "be disloyal" to "challenge". Contrast confide, fidelity, faith.
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