English Online Dictionary. What means defeat? What does defeat mean?
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dɪˈfiːt/
- Rhymes: -iːt
Etymology 1
From Middle English defeten, from Middle English defet (“disfigured”, past participle) and defet (“defect”, noun), see Etymology 2 below.
Verb
defeat (third-person singular simple present defeats, present participle defeating, simple past and past participle defeated)
- (transitive) To overcome in battle or contest.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:defeat
- (transitive) To reduce, to nothing, the strength of.
- (transitive) To nullify
- To prevent (something) from being achieved.
Synonyms
- vanquish, overcome, beat
Hyponyms
- conquer (defeat and annex); rout, crush, cream (decisive); shutout, zilch (sports, to defeat without permitting any opposing score)
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English defet, from French deffet, desfait, past participle of the verb desfaire (compare modern French défaire), from des- + faire.
Noun
defeat (countable and uncountable, plural defeats)
- The act or instance of being defeated, of being overcome or vanquished; a loss.
- The act or instance of defeating, of overcoming, vanquishing.
- Frustration (by prevention of success), stymieing; (law) nullification.
- (obsolete) Destruction, ruin.
Antonyms
- victory
Derived terms
Collocations
Translations
Anagrams
- feated