defeat
verb/dɪˈfiːt/
/dɪˈfiːt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they defeat | /dɪˈfiːt/ /dɪˈfiːt/ |
| he / she / it defeats | /dɪˈfiːts/ /dɪˈfiːts/ |
| past simple defeated | /dɪˈfiːtɪd/ /dɪˈfiːtɪd/ |
| past participle defeated | /dɪˈfiːtɪd/ /dɪˈfiːtɪd/ |
| -ing form defeating | /dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/ /dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/ |
- to win against somebody in a war, competition, sports game, etc. synonym beat
- defeat somebody/something He defeated the champion in three sets.
- to defeat a rival/an opponent
- The goal is to defeat the enemy by whatever means possible.
- a defeated army
- Garibaldi defeated the Neapolitan army.
- defeat somebody by something The government was defeated by 200 votes to 83.
- Davis defeated Morris by eight points in the semi-final.
- defeat somebody in something Our team was narrowly defeated in the final.
- It was said that he could not be defeated in battle.
Extra ExamplesTopics War and conflictb2, Sports: other sportsb2- He said it was impossible to defeat the terrorists militarily.
- The English were decisively defeated by the rebels in the battle that followed.
- The senator was decisively defeated by his rivals.
- She narrowly defeated the rival candidate in the leadership contest.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
- by
Definitions on the go
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- to stop something from being successful
- defeat something They are united in their determination to defeat global terrorism.
- The proposed bill was decisively defeated in Parliament.
- be defeated by something The motion was defeated by 19 votes.
- Writing down your password so you remember it defeats the purpose of having a password.
- Staying late at the office to discuss shorter working hours rather defeats the object of the exercise!
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
- by
- defeat somebody (formal) if something defeats you, you cannot understand it
- The instruction manual completely defeated me.
- Question 6 defeated us.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
- by
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘undo, destroy, annul’): from Old French desfait ‘undone’, past participle of desfaire, from medieval Latin disfacere ‘undo’.
Check pronunciation:
defeat