defy
verb (used with object)
to challenge the power of; resist boldly or openly.
had defied
-
past perfectof defy.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
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
The next head-spinning result arrived when Anthropic’s Fable model found a counterexample to the Jacobian conjecture, a famously treacherous problem that had defied mathematicians for 87 years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
He has since led an internal revolt and was elected party leader in January, ending the decade-long grip of former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, 79, who had defied calls for reform.
From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026
It was a club that had defied the odds just a few years earlier by finishing second in the Eredivisie in 1998-99 and reaching the Champions League.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2025
Now I was truly dead to Granny and Aunt Addie, but my mother smiled when I told her that I had defied them.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
