Dictionary Definition
defy
Verb
1 resist or confront with resistance; "The
politician defied public opinion"; "The new material withstands
even the greatest wear and tear"; "The bridge held" [syn: withstand, hold, hold up]
2 elude, especially in a baffling way; "This
behavior defies explanation" [syn: resist, refuse] [ant: lend
oneself]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -aɪ
Noun
- A challenge.
Translations
Verb
- To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.
- To provoke to combat or strife; to call out to combat; to challenge; to dare; to brave; to set at defiance; to treat with contempt; as, to defy an enemy; to defy the power of a magistrate; to defy the arguments of an opponent; to defy public opinion.
Translations
To renounce or desolve all bonds
- Kurdish: ,
To provoke to combat or strife
Extensive Definition
Defiance may refer to:
In film and theatre:
- Defiance (1980 film), a film starring Jan-Michael Vincent
- Defiance (2008 film), a forthcoming film directed by Edward Zwick
- Defiance (play), a play by John Patrick Shanley
In games:
- Defiance, an expansion campaign for the computer game Independence War
- Legacy of Kain: Defiance, a video game
In literature:
- Defiance (book), a memoir by Savitri Devi
- A novel by Kenneth Bulmer
- A novel by young-adult writer Valerie Hobbs
- Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, a book by Nechama Tec about the Bielski partisans; basis for the 2008 film (see above)
In music:
- Defiance (band), an American thrash metal band
- Defiance (punk band), an American street punk band recording for Punk Core Records
- Defiance (album), an album by Pro-jekt
In places:
- Defiance, Iowa, US
- Defiance, Missouri, US
- Defiance, Ohio, US
- Defiance Township, Defiance County, Ohio, US
- Defiance County, Ohio, US
- Defiance, Pennsylvania, US
- Mount Defiance, a hill in New York, US
In other uses:
- HMS Defiance, nineteen ships of the British Royal Navy
- USS Defiance, three ships of the U.S. Navy
- Defiance Campaign, a 1951 anti-apartheid initiative by the African National Congress
- Defiance railway station, or Defiance Platform, a disused station on the Plymouth to Penzance Line in the UK
See also
- Defiance, Ohio (band) an American folk-punk band
- Fort Defiance (disambiguation)
- Defiant
defy in German: Defiance
defy in French: Defiance
defy in Dutch: Defiance
defy in Polish: Defiance
defy in Volapük: Defiance
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
affront, attack, baffle, balk, battle cry, be a man, be
proof against, bear up, bear up against, beard, bid defiance, bid to
combat, blast, brave, brazen out, break, break the law, breast, bring before, bring
forward, bring up, call out, care naught for, cartel, challenge, checkmate, circumvent, confound, confront, confront with,
contravene, counter, counteract, countermand, counterwork, cross, dare, dash, declare war, defeat, defi, deride, destroy, discomfit, disconcert, discountenance, dish, disobey, disregard, disrupt, do violence to, double
dare, double-dare, elude,
encounter, endure, envisage, face, face out, face with, flout, flummox, foil, front, frustrate, gage, gage of battle, gauntlet, gibe, glove, go counter to, have the
guts, have the nerve, hold out, hold up, ignore, infringe, knock the chocks, lay
before, levy war on, make bold to, make war on, meet, meet squarely, mock, nonplus, not conform, not heed,
not keep, not listen, not mind, not observe, open hostilities,
outdare, outface, perplex, place before, present
to, put it to, rebel yell, rebuff, refuse to cooperate,
repel, repulse, resist, ridicule, ruin, sabotage, scoff at, scorn, scotch, scout, scream defiance, set at
defiance, set at naught, set before, set naught by, show fight,
spike, spoil, stand, stand up, stand up to,
stare down, stem, stonewall, stump, thwart, trample on, trample
underfoot, trample upon, transgress, trespass, upset, venture, violate, war cry, war whoop,
withstand