defy Definition
defy (dē fī′, di-; also, for n., dē′fī)
transitive verb -·fied′, -·fy′·ing
- to resist or oppose boldly or openly
- to resist completely in a baffling way the puzzle defied solution
- to dare (someone) to do or prove something
- Archaic to challenge (someone) to fight
Etymology: ME defien < OFr defier, to distrust, repudiate, defy < LL *disfidare < dis-, from + *fidare, to trust < fidus, faithful: see faith
noun pl. -·fies
a defiance or challenge
defy Synonyms
defy Usage Examples
Object
- categorisation: His voice, with its extremely distinctive dark, rich timbre at any rate rather defies categorisation.
- gravity: Cause a regular pencil to defy gravity by clinging to your fingers!
- categorization: Sometimes a magazine, book - or even web site - defies neat categorization... of their content shall you know them.
- logic: The thought of them being given knives defies logic.
- classification: Like all great works of literature, the Lord of the Rings defies classification.
- comprehension: Part 1 Geological evidence points to an cataclysmic event that almost defies comprehension.
Used with why or when
what: The recovery from the 1991 recession, for instance, seemed to defy what was universally taught in economics courses around the world.
Adjective complement
- more: Home with friends the world defying more than quot the discovery.
- easy: The character's motivations are complex and defy easy categorizing.
- most: The Columbia defies most of the rules of modern hotel management.
Modifying Another Word
- openly: They intend to openly defy the law in order to get arrested.
- almost: The third movement almost defied gravity - a dream that had become slumber.
- seemingly: No effect compares to having an ordinary, everyday object seemingly defy gravity.
- deliberately: He wasn't satisfied, v10 tells us, with a campaign of malicious gossip about John but deliberately defied him.
- apparently: As Nationwide moved into the 1980s, Bob Wellings ( above left, apparently defying gravity in his series Peaks of Britain!
- successfully: It popularized the idea that unjust laws can be successfully defied.
Present participle complement
- age: There are many hundreds of qigong postures designed to help defy aging.
- categorize: Other things we might make or commission ourselves that really defy categorizing... .
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