Defy

//dɪˈfaɪ//

Synonyms for "defy" (164 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (33)

Strong matches (49)

Verb(1 words)
dare

Related words (82)

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

6 relation types

More general

7 entries

Antonyms

1 entries

Related terms

2 entries

derived

7 entries

manner of

3 entries

related to

7 entries

Translations

84 translations across 23 languages.

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Bulgarian

4 entries
  • игнорирам verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • опълча се verb (to refuse to obey)
  • опълчвам се verb (to refuse to obey)
  • отрека verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)

Central Kurdish

4 entries
  • بەربەرەکانێ کردن verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • بەربەکانی کردن verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • عاسی بوون verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • لە قسەدەرچوون verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)

Chinese Mandarin

1 entries
  • 抗拒 verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)

Czech

4 entries
  • vyzvat verb (to challenge (someone))
  • vyzvat verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • vyzývat verb (to challenge (someone))
  • vzdorovat verb (to refuse to obey)

Danish

4 entries
  • lade hånt om verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • trodse verb (to challenge (someone))
  • trodse verb (to refuse to obey)
  • trodse verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)

Dutch

3 entries
  • afzweren verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • het hoofd bieden verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • uitdagen verb (to provoke to combat or strife)

Esperanto

1 entries
  • defii verb (to challenge (someone))

Finnish

2 entries
  • haastaa verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • uhmata verb (to provoke to combat or strife)

French

2 entries
  • défier verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • désobéir à verb (to refuse to obey)

German

4 entries
  • abschwören verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • die Stirn bieten verb (to challenge (someone))
  • entgegentreten verb (to challenge (someone))
  • herausfordern verb (to challenge (someone))

Irish

1 entries
  • tabhair dúshlán verb (to challenge (someone))

Italian

3 entries
  • abiurare verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • sfidare verb (to challenge (someone))
  • sfidare verb (to provoke to combat or strife)

Malagasy

2 entries
  • mandrangitra verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • mandà verb (to refuse to obey)

Māori

4 entries
  • takahi verb (to refuse to obey)
  • wananga verb (to challenge (someone))
  • whakatumatuma verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • whakatōrea verb (to challenge (someone))

Norwegian Bokmål

4 entries
  • avsverge verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • avvise verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • motsi verb (to refuse to obey)
  • trosse verb (to refuse to obey)

Persian

3 entries
  • سر باز زدن verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • سرپیچی verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • نافرمانی verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)

Portuguese

4 entries
  • desafiar verb (to challenge (someone))
  • desafiar verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • desobedecer verb (to refuse to obey)
  • renunciar verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)

Romanian

1 entries
  • sfida verb (to provoke to combat or strife)

Russian

3 entries
  • броса́ть вы́зов verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • попира́ть verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • пренебрега́ть verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)

Spanish

4 entries
  • desafiar verb (to challenge (someone))
  • desafiar verb (to provoke to combat or strife)
  • desafiar verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)
  • desobedecer verb (to refuse to obey)

Swedish

1 entries
  • trotsa verb (to refuse to obey)

Thai

4 entries
  • ขัด verb (to refuse to obey)
  • ขัดขืน verb (to refuse to obey)
  • ต่อต้าน verb (to challenge (someone))
  • ต่อต้าน verb (to renounce or dissolve all bonds)

Turkish

1 entries
  • meydan okumak verb (to challenge (someone))

Sample sentences

21 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

I defy you to make it public.

Source: tatoeba (39500)

I defy you to solve the problem.

Source: tatoeba (43769)

I defy you to solve this problem.

Source: tatoeba (56754)

Don't defy their orders, just limit yourself to obeying them.

Source: tatoeba (1148230)

Showing 4 of 21 available sentences.

More for "defy"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.