defy
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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.
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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
plural
defiesverb
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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
- defiable adjective
- defier noun
- defyingly adverb
- predefy verb (used with object)
- redefy verb (used with object)
- undefiable adjective
- undefiably adverb
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.
Yet “writers defy time,” Ms. Phillips declares in an essay about literature as safekeeping.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
“But for the degree of broadening that would warrant an upgrade, the market would have to defy the four-year cycle tendency for weakness from April to October.”
From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026
“I’m currently working on an accessible life-coaching resource in the style of an ‘80s TV show, using YouTube videos, to show others they can defy the societal norm of being miserable,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
Lancashire skipper James Anderson took 4-18 to help his side defy the odds and defeat Derbyshire by 29 runs on a dramatic last day of the County Championship match at Emirates Old Trafford.
From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026
“Suppose you did have the courage to defy somebody?”
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
