vanquish
Americanverb
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to defeat or overcome in a battle, contest, etc; conquer
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to defeat or overcome in argument or debate
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to conquer (an emotion)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vanquish
1300–50; Middle English vencuschen, venquisshen < Old French vencus past participle and venquis past tense of veintre < Latin vincere to overcome
Explanation
To vanquish is to be the complete and total winner, to overpower and overcome, whether in a contest, a race, or a war. It generally suggests a total trouncing, to the point of humiliation — or worse — for the loser. Sometimes words for the same thing are effective in different ways because they offer different levels of meaning. For example, in a game, you can simply win, or you can vanquish your opponent. The former is enough, but the latter makes that defeat sound so much worse, like a total rout. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once stated, "Against war it may be said that it makes the victor stupid and the vanquished revengeful."
Vocabulary lists containing vanquish
Grade 10, List 1
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The Tragedy of Macbeth
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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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.
There is a problem, though, and it comes from the unlikelihood that OpenAI or Anthropic will ever vanquish the other.
From Slate • Feb. 10, 2026
They vanquish carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, a gas of which I am very fond.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
And writers’ enthusiasm for em dashes is often hard-won, given that plenty of editors and readers would be happy to vanquish those ostentatious marks from the page entirely.
From Salon • Jun. 11, 2025
Instead, still a couple of weeks out from his 18th birthday, Littler calmly made his way through the rounds and then put in a display as mature as it was astonishing to vanquish Van Gerwen.
From BBC • Jan. 3, 2025
“Is this where you tell me I’m special anyway and my superpower is just being Zeke and that’ll be enough to vanquish the villain?”
From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness
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.
