- 1 defeat somebody/something to win against somebody in a war, competition, sports game, etc. synonym beat He defeated the champion in three sets. a defeated army The government was defeated by 200 votes to 83. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbcomprehensively, convincingly, decisively, … prepositionby See full entry
- 2 defeat something to stop something from being successful The motion was defeated by 19 votes. Staying late at the office to discuss shorter working hours rather defeats the object of the exercise! Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbcomprehensively, convincingly, decisively, … prepositionby See full entry
- 3defeat somebody (formal) if something defeats you, you cannot understand it The instruction manual completely defeated me. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbcomprehensively, convincingly, decisively, … prepositionby See full entry Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘undo, destroy, annul’): from Old French desfait ‘undone’, past participle of desfaire, from medieval Latin disfacere ‘undo’.Extra examples He said it was impossible to defeat the terrorists militarily. Our team was narrowly defeated in the final. The English were decisively defeated by the rebels in the battle that followed. The motion was defeated by 20 votes to 18. The proposed bill was decisively defeated in Parliament. The senator was decisively defeated by his rivals. An opposition vote of no confidence was decisively defeated in parliament. Question 6 defeated us. She narrowly defeated the rival candidate in the leadership contest.
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BrE BrE//dɪˈfiːt//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈfiːt//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they defeat BrE BrE//dɪˈfiːt//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈfiːt//
he / she / it defeats BrE BrE//dɪˈfiːts//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈfiːts//
past simple defeated BrE BrE//dɪˈfiːtɪd//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈfiːtɪd//
past participle defeated BrE BrE//dɪˈfiːtɪd//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈfiːtɪd//
-ing form defeating BrE BrE//dɪˈfiːtɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈfiːtɪŋ//
Check pronunciation: defeat
