vanquish
Americanverb
-
to defeat or overcome in a battle, contest, etc; conquer
-
to defeat or overcome in argument or debate
-
to conquer (an emotion)
Other Word Forms
- unvanquishable adjective
- unvanquished adjective
- unvanquishing adjective
- vanquishable adjective
- vanquisher noun
- vanquishment noun
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
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.
What follows focuses on Martin and Lora’s daughter Josie, who forges a successful life—she goes to Harvard and starts a family—but can never vanquish her longing for her father’s return.
The idea that “there will be no victor or vanquished” is not poetic fatalism, it is empirical reality.
From Salon
In this zero-sum view of the world, any perceived enemies must not merely be defeated but vanquished altogether.
From Salon
However, once Hernán Cortés triumphed, the conquistadors went from waging war — vanquishing the Aztecs — to the project of subjugating Indigenous holdouts and building a self-sustaining territory loyal to the crown.
From Los Angeles Times
They vanquish carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, a gas of which I am very fond.
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.
