Her service
defies
long-standing rules in the denomination.
—
Sarah Maddox,
CBS News
, 9 Sep. 2023
But Navarro
defied
the subpoena arguing that he was protected by executive privilege to keep communications with Trump confidential.
—
Taylor Wilson,
USA TODAY
, 8 Sep. 2023
With his team’s stirring upset of TCU, Sanders not only
defied
the dismal expectations for a team that had finished 1–11 last season.
—
Samuel G. Freedman,
The New Republic
, 8 Sep. 2023
This purification is actually genital mutilation, a procedure from which a significant number of girls die, and the girls’ choice of protector is no accident: seven years earlier, Collé Ardo
defied
tradition, her husband, and the community at large by refusing to let her daughter Amsatou be cut.
—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker
, 7 Sep. 2023
Watson grew up with that story, which was also becoming the Navy’s story—the daring squadron commander
defying
all odds, cheating death, seizing his place in the world.
—
Longreads
, 5 Sep. 2023
Interest in the alien sightings exploded into the mainstream in 2020 when the Pentagon released videos taken by naval aviators that showed unexplained objects flying at high speed and moving in ways that
defied
explanations.
—
Peter Martin Bloomberg News (tns),
al
, 1 Sep. 2023
When the crimes do not
defy
scientific explanation, Lockhart's obsession threatens his sanity, family, and job.
—
Starr Savoy,
ELLE
, 28 Aug. 2023
Long and low, comfortable yet quick, and always with handling that seemed to belie its prodigious dimensions, the model has
defied
expectations.
—
Tim Stevens,
Robb Report
, 25 Aug. 2023
There are also vehicles that kind of
defy
trailering, at least under normal circumstances, like the old U.S. military Unimog (pictured above), complete with a hydraulic front-end loader.
—
Sebastian Blanco,
Car and Driver
, 8 Jan. 2023
Over the past few years, astronomers have uncovered about a dozen objects in the distant solar system that
defy
expectations.
—
Jake Parks,
Discover Magazine
, 4 Oct. 2019
Ciara and Andreas
defy
categorization by being other worldly good looking with chaotic neutral personalities.
—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture
, 14 Feb. 2022
Can Christian Pulisic — if healthy — and the young American squad
defy
odds again and knock off a soccer superpower in the Netherlands?
—
Chris Ilenstine,
Chicago Tribune
, 2 Dec. 2022
The challenge for Democrats will be to maintain the energy for several more months and
defy
trends that typically trip up the party in power.
—
Steve Peoples,
Chicago Tribune
, 3 Aug. 2022
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'defy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback
about these examples.
Middle English
defien
"to renounce, disavow, scorn, challenge to fight," borrowed from Anglo-French
defier, desfier,
from
de-, des-
de-
+
fier
"to pledge, trust in, rely on," going back to Vulgar Latin
*fīdāre,
re-formation of Latin
fīdere
"to trust (in), have confidence (in)" — more at
faith
entry
1
Note:
The sense history was perhaps "to break faith with" > "to scorn" > "to challenge to a fight," though the latter meaning appears to be the earliest in Old French.
in part borrowed from Middle French
deffy,
noun derivative of
defier
"to challenge,
defy
entry
1
," in part derivative of
defy
entry
1
14th century, in the meaning defined at
sense 4
Noun
1580, in the meaning defined
above
The first known use of
defy
was
in the 14th century
See more words from the same century
“Defy.”
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary
, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/defy. Accessed 13 Sep. 2023.
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