defiantly

[dih-fahy-uhnt-lee]

adverb

1. with daring or bold resistance to authority.

   In a fearless display, protesters chanted defiantly at police: "Come and shoot us with your tear gas!"

Other Word Forms

• half-defiantly adverb
• nondefiantly adverb
• overdefiantly adverb
• quasi-defiantly adverb
• undefiantly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of defiantly¹

defiant ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

The installation was intended to mimic the “Fearless Girl” statue at New York’s Wall Street, which shows a 4-foot young woman looking defiantly at the famous charging bull statue.

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He returned to Port William with empty pockets but in a defiantly buoyant mood, because he had come to a resolution.

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One defiantly analog answer is to look to our playwrights.

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Yard signs that read “Altadena Not For Sale,” which popped up soon after the fires cooled, still stand defiantly on some dirt-covered lawns.

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“You’ll never be able to write a joke, and I am willing to do full frontal, but nobody’s asked me, OK?” she concluded defiantly.

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