de·feat (d -f t )tr.v. de·feat·ed, de·feat·ing, de·feats 1. To win victory over; beat. 2. To prevent the success of; thwart: Internal strife defeats the purpose of teamwork. 3. Law To make void; annul. n.1. The act of defeating or state of being defeated. 2. Failure to win. 3. A coming to naught; frustration: the defeat of a lifelong dream. 4. Law The act of making null and void.
[Middle English defeten, from defet, disfigured, from Old French desfait, past participle of desfaire, to destroy, from Medieval Latin disfacere, to destroy, mutilate, undo : Latin dis-, dis- + Latin facere, to do; see dh - in Indo-European roots.]
de·feat er n. Synonyms: defeat, conquer, vanquish, beat, rout1, subdue, subjugate, overcome These verbs mean to triumph over an adversary. Defeat is the most general: "Whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same" (Thomas Paine). Conquer suggests decisive and often wide-scale victory: "The Franks . . . having conquered the Gauls, established the kingdom which has taken its name from them" (Alexander Hamilton). Vanquish emphasizes total mastery: Napoleon's forces were vanquished at Waterloo. Beat is similar to defeat, though less formal and often more emphatic: "To win battles . . . you beat the soul . . . of the enemy man" (George S. Patton). Rout implies complete victory followed by the disorderly flight of the defeated force: The enemy was routed in the first battle. Subdue suggests mastery and control achieved by overpowering: "It cost [the Romans] two great wars, and three great battles, to subdue that little kingdom [Macedonia]" (Adam Smith). Subjugate more strongly implies reducing an opponent to submission: "The last foreigner to subjugate England was a Norman duke in the Middle Ages named William" (Stanley Meisler). To overcome is to prevail over, often by persevering: He overcame his injury after months of physical therapy. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Noun | 1. | defeated - people who are defeated; "the Romans had no pity for the defeated"people - (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at least 200 people in the audience" | | Adj. | 1. | defeated - beaten or overcome; not victorious; "the defeated enemy"unsuccessful - not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome undefeated - victorious; "undefeated in battle"; "an undefeated team" | | 2. | defeated - disappointingly unsuccessful; "disappointed expectations and thwarted ambitions"; "their foiled attempt to capture Calais"; "many frustrated poets end as pipe-smoking teachers"; "his best efforts were thwarted"unsuccessful - not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome |
defeatedadjective beaten, crushed, conquered, worsted, routed, overcome, overwhelmed, thrashed, licked (informal), thwarted, overpowered, balked, trounced, vanquished, checkmated, bested He'll be disinclined to treat a defeated enemy with leniency. winning, successful, dominant, conquering, triumphant, victorious, undefeated, triumphal
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