defy
Americanverb (used with object)
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defies,
present (3rd person singular)
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defied,
past participle, past
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defying
present participle
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to challenge the power of; resist boldly or openly.
Love drives the characters to ignore their family feud and defy parental authority.
The artist defies conventional categories by blending very different styles in her work.
-
to offer effective resistance to; make virtually impossible.
Their strategic position is helped by having a fort that defies attack.
The facts were so complex that they defied simple explanation.
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to challenge (a person) to do something deemed impossible.
They defied him to dive off the bridge.
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Archaic. to challenge to a combat or contest.
noun
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defies
plural
verb
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to resist (a powerful person, authority, etc) openly and boldly
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to elude, esp in a baffling way
his actions defy explanation
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formal to challenge or provoke (someone to do something judged to be impossible); dare
I defy you to climb that cliff
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archaic to invite to do battle or combat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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defiernoun
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predefyverb (used with object)
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redefyverb (used with object)
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defiableadjective
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undefiableadjective
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defyinglyadverb
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undefiablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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defysimple
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defiessimple
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have defiedperfect
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has defiedperfect
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am defyingprogressive
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are defyingprogressive
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is defyingprogressive
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have been defyingperfect progressive
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has been defyingperfect progressive
Past
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defiedsimple
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had defiedperfect
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was defyingprogressive
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were defyingprogressive
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had been defyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of defy
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Middle English defien, Old French desfier, from des- dis- 1 + fier “to trust” (from Vulgar Latin fīdāre (unrecorded), from Latin fīdere; cf. fidelity ( def. ))
Explanation
To defy is to openly refuse to do something. You can defy the no-costumes-in-class rule if you wear your fairy wings to school, but just don’t try to defy the laws of gravity unless you can actually fly. If you deliberately break a rule or ignore an order, you defy, or resist, that rule. The word defy comes from the Latin word disfidare for "renounce one's faith." So if you're expected to be faithful to a certain law or rule but you refuse to be, you defy it. There are different ways to defy — defy your parents by staying out past curfew, or defy common sense by walking in with shoes on your head.
Vocabulary lists containing defy
The Cay
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I Am Malala
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The sisters’ desire to defy expectations is most apparent in their jam-packed touring schedule.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
The peptides are routinely used in “stacks”; chosen at random, with arbitrarily chosen doses; and two drugs from the same class may be included for reasons that defy explanation.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Couples can still behave in ways that defy what the models suggest.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
"I think they would help answer the fundamental questions of physics that defy logic," he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Scruggs joined about 300 other guys to watch the folk singer Arlo Guthrie defy attempts by the government to draft him.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
Zoe Kazan’s Cathy, which closely hews to Steinbeck’s original vision, defies easy assumptions about a woman’s wants and needs.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
“The stellar performance defies concerns that competition with Anthropic and OpenAI is intensifying for enterprise AI workflows,” DiPalma said of Palantir’s earnings beat.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
So singular that it all but defies any kind of tea-leaf-reading or, heaven forbid, attempts at replication.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
There is always at least one team that defies the odds and emerges as the surprise package of a World Cup.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
A starving Greek community defies Nazi soldiers by hanging out thousands of forbidden national flags.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Moscow issued a similar warning in May but heads of state and governments from countries backing Ukraine have defied it by travelling to the war-torn country and the capital in show of support.
From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026
Even if Johnson had defied a federal statute, they argued, it was merely to allow the Supreme Court to decide its constitutionality.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026
For so long now Djokovic has not only defied time, but appeared to be improving with it.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
These results would be impressive for any cancer drug, but especially for a disease that has defied treatment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
A party was shimmering below and Bailey had defied Mother’s eleven o’clock curfew.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Disney is defying the theme-park industry’s summer slump by rolling out more promotions and package deals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
"By refusing to testify today, Leon Black is now defying two Congressional subpoenas," Robert Garcia, who sits on the committee, said in a statement after Black failed to appear.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
"Well, you'd be defying gravity and logic if you said it wasn't a big problem," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
He’s a menace on stage in the best way possible, almost defying an audience to like him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
A man half in shadow, half in light, defying knowledge.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
