Defy

Definitions: Defy

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".

2. Elude, esp. in a baffling way; "This behavior defies explanation".

3. Challenge: "I dare you!".

Date "defy" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
DEFY	English	Drug Education for Youth	N/A
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonyms: Defy

Synonyms: dare (v), hold (v), hold up (v), refuse (v), resist (v), withstand (v). (additional references)

Antonym: lend oneself (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Courage	Verb: be courageous; Adjective: dare, venture, make bold; face danger, front danger, affront danger, confront danger, brave danger, defy danger, despise danger, mock danger; look in the face; look full in the face, look boldly in the face, look danger in the face; face; meet, meet in front; brave, beard; defy.
Defiance	Verb: defy, dare, beard; brave; (courage); bid defiance to; set at defiance, set at naught; hurl defiance at; dance the war dance, beat the war drums; snap the fingers at, laugh to scorn; disobey.
Disobedience	Verb: disobey, violate, infringe; shirk; set at defiance; (defy); set authority at naught, run riot, fly in the face of; take the law into one's own hands; kick over the traces.
Record	Phrase: exegi monumentum aere perennium; "read their history in a nation's eyes"; " records that defy the tooth of time ".
Threat	Defy; intimidate; keep in terrorem, hold up in terrorem, hold out in terrorem; shake the fist at, double the fist at, clinch the fist at; thunder, talk big, fulminate, use big words, bluster, look daggers, stare daggers.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Defy

English words defined with "defy": Defied, Defying ♦ Maugre ♦ To bid defiance to, To bite the thumb at, To fly in the face of. (references)

Specialty definitions using "defy": Aspersions. (references)

Etymologies containing "defy": Defiatory, Defier, Diffident. (references)

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Don't defy the council, Master, not again. (Episode I: The Phantom Menace; writing credit: George Lucas.) I defy you! Come and kneel before Zod! Zod! (Superman II; writing credit: Jerry Siegel; Joe Shuster) Well, not actually me God because I defy him and all his works. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) It means 'she whose bosoms defy gravity'. (Top Secret!; writing credit: Jim Abrahams; David Zucker) Your willingness to defy the universal odds is a disease that apparently we have all contracted. (Andromeda; writing credit: John Cranna)
Movie/TV Titles	Defy Gravity (1990)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	At-Risk Students Defy the Odds (reference) Defy Aging: Develop the Mental and Emotional Vitality to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier Than You Ever Imagined (reference) Defy Not The Heart (reference) Defy the Darkness: A Tale of Courage in the Shadow of Mengele (reference) Defy the Devil (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Defy the System (reference) Identity 5: I Defy (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	With thee to support me, I defy the whole world.Credit: Library of Congress.		Fierce-bound, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers, head bowed, like a willing ox, I serve the children.Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	I defy you to get away from that.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		For large common bile duct stones that defy conventional extraction methods, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy or contact laser techniques may be successful in fragmenting the stone prior to subsequent removal. (references)
Civil Liberties	Nepal	Some students and teachers at schools attempting to defy the ban reported threats and intimidation from the Maoists, and two buses from one private school were set on fire. (references)
	Turkey	Dozens of women who wear head coverings, and both men and women who actively have shown support for those who defy the ban, have lost their jobs in the public sector as nurses and teachers; some others were not allowed to register, as university students. (references)
Economic History	Ecuador	However, after the new Constitution took effect, the Congress passed a code of ethics which imposes penalties on members who defy their party leadership on key votes. (references)
Human Rights	Uzbekistan	Judges whose decisions have been overturned on more than one occasion may be removed from office; consequently, judges rarely defy the recommendations of prosecutors. (references)
Political Economy	GUATEMALA	Although the Labor Code provides that workers illegally fired for union activity should be reinstated within 24 hours, in practice employers often file a series of appeals, or simply defy judicial orders of reinstatement. (references)
Worker Rights	Cambodia	In a case beginning in 2000, a factory continued to defy a MOSALVY order to reinstate dismissed union leaders. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Defy" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 61.98% of the time. "Defy" is used about 313 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	61.98%	194	22,014
Lexical Verb (base form)	38.02%	119	29,501
Total	100.00%	313	N/A

Expressions using "defy": defy description ♦ defy translation. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "defy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		nuk e përfill, kundërshtoj hapur, i hedh sfidë (dare). (various references)

Arabic		‏تحدى (affront, be provoked, be taunted, beard, brave, challenge, confront, dare, fly in the face of, outface, pick a quarrel, quarrel, take on), ‏تحد (challenge, dare, defiance, gauntlet, provocation, stump), ‏رفض (decline, denial, denied, deny, disallow, disapproval, disapprove, dismiss, ignore, negate, negation, negative, nix, objection, odium, overrule, pass up, rebuff, refusal, refuse, reject, rejection, renouncement, repel, reprobate, repudiate, repudiation, repulse, scorn, set aside, throw out, throw over, toss, turn down). (various references)

Bulgarian		устоявам на (endure, outride, resist, stand, stand against, weather), готов съм да се боря, въставам срещу, не се поддавам на (be superior to, evade, resist), не зачитам (slight), противя се на (cross, stand against), предизвиквам (arouse, bring, bring on, dare, elicit, engender, fly in the face of, give birth, give rise to, give to rise, induce, instigate, invite, outbrave, pick, provoke, raise, rouse, set up, shape up, sow, stump, throw out a challenge, touch off, urge, work up). (various references)

Chinese		违抗 (Defied, Defying). (various references)

Czech		vzdorovat (affront, oppose), vyzvat (call, challenge, invite, summon), pohrdat (despise, disdain, disregard), opovrhovat (despise, scorn, spurn), neuposlechnout (disobey). (various references)

Danish		udfordre (challenge, incite, provoke). (various references)

Dutch		uittarten (challenge, incite, provoke), uitdagen (challenge, incite, provoke), trotseren (challenge), tarten (challenge, incite, provoke). (various references)

Esperanto		defii (challenge), provoki (incite, provoke). (various references)

Faeroese		bjóða av (challenge). (various references)

Farsi		تحریک جنگ کردن , شیرکردن (Bield, Lionize), بمبارزه طلبیدن (Challenge, Dare). (various references)

Finnish		uhmata (brave, challenge). (various references)

French		provoquer. (various references)

German		trotzen (be obstinate, be stubborn, brave, insist, mock, persist, to defy, withstand). (various references)

Greek		αψηφώ (beard, brave, dare, disregard, flout, fly in the face of, ignore, mock, outface, slight, snub). (various references)

Hebrew		לקרוא ת�'ר (challenge), ל�"מרות (disobey, rebel), ל�"תריס (argue, challenge, contradict, protest against, reproof), ל�"עז פ� ים (be insolent), לסרב (decline, rebuff, refuse), לא ל�"כ� ע. (various references)

Hungarian		dacol (beard, durst, fly in the face of, to brave, to challenge, to dare, to defy, to fly in the face of), visszautasít (decline, disallow, disavow, rebuff, refuse, reject, to decline, to except against, to rebuff, to refuse, to reject, to repel, to repudiate, to repulse, to throw back, turn away). (various references)

Indonesian		menantang (against, brave, versus). (various references)

Italian		sfidare (beard, brave, challenge, challenge each other, dare, face, provoke). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		凌 (eclipse, endure, excel, keep out, pull through, slight, stave off, surpass, tide over, tiding over). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		りょう (amount, catch, charge, companion, completion, dormitory, eclipse, endure, excel, fee, finish, fishing, game, good, hostel, hunting, keep out, material, official, portion, pull through, quantity, rate, skill, slight, stave off, surpass, tide over, understanding, volume). (various references)

Korean		도� � (Challenge, Challenging, DARE, Defiance). (various references)

Manx		cur y lane fo (challenge, dare). (various references)

Norwegian		utfordre, trosse (hawser). (various references)

Pig Latin		efyday

Portuguese		provocar (abet, add fuel to, aggravate, arouse, bring, bring on, cause, cause to take place, challenge, court, egg beater, egg on, excite, excited, gall, generate electricity, incite, induce, infuse, instigate, inviting, nettle, occasion, pick, provoke, raise, rattle, rouse, solicit, start, stimulate, stir up, waken), desafiar (beard, brave, challenge, dare, incite, outdated, provoke). (various references)

Romanian		desfide (dare, mock), depãşi (beat, better, exceed, Excel, forereach, get ahead of, go by, head, outdo, outreach, outrun, outstep, outstrip, overmatch, overreach, overrun, overshoot, overtake, pass, surpass, top, transcend, transgress), sfida (affront, beard, brave, face, mock, outbrave, outdare, scoff), provoca (abet, agitate, bring, bring on, bring to pass, call forth, cause, challenge, create, dare, elicit, encourage, excite, fling down the gauntlet, give, give rise to, impel, incite, induce, instigate, invite, provoke, raise, rouse, spur on, start, stimulate, stir, stir up, throw down the gauntlet, urge, work up), nu avea soluţie, brava (affront, beard, brave it out, face, outdare), înfrunta (beard, brave, breast, confront, dare, face, front, head, meet, outbrave, outdare, scoff, weather), încãlca (break, impinge, infringe, infringe on, infringe upon, invade, overrun, poach, scorn, usurp, violate). (various references)

Russian		игнорировать (cut ~ dead, disregard, dissemble, eliminate, ignore). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		prkositi (outdare, outface), čikati. (various references)

Spanish		desafiar (beard, brave, challenge, dare, outdare, outface). (various references)

Swedish		utmana (bid defiance to, challenge, court, dare, provoke), trotsa (affront, baffle, bid defiance to, brave, challenge, elude, evade, flout, mock, outface, scorn, stand up to). (various references)

Turkish		meydan okumak (beard, brave, challenge, dare, fling down the gauntlet, fling down the glove, have a chip an one's shoulder, outface, stump, tempt, throw down the gage to smb., throw down the glove), karşılaşmaya davet etmek, karşı gelmek (argue, beard, bridle, buck, controvert, cut across, go against, object to, oppose, recalcitrate, transgress), küçümsemek (belittle, contemn, depreciate, despise, disdain, flout, look down on, make light of, minimize, pooh pooh, scorn, sneer, underestimate, underrate, undervalue), kışkırtmak (agitate, antagonize, egg, egg on, excite, fan the flame, ferment, foment, ginger, ginger up, goad, goad on, hound, hound on, incite, inflame, instigate, jockey into, lash, prod, provoke, rouse, set on, solicit, sting, stir up, tempt, warm up, whip up), gücünü aşmak, alnını karışlamak. (various references)

Ukranian		ігнорувати (balk, brush aside, disregard, dissemble, eliminate, ignore, neglect, overjump, overleap, overlook), кидати виклик (bid defiance, challenge, outdare), відверто не слухатися, викликати (arouse, bring forth, bring on, call, call in, cause, challenge, champion, cite, create, evoke, necessitate, procure, provoke, send for, send up, set smb. agog, stir up, strike, summon, touch off, wake, warn, whistle up), виклик (call, call up, calling, challenge, citation, dare, defiance, provocation, ringing, summons), не піддаватися (evade, stick out). (various references)

Welsh		herio (brave, challenge, dare), herfeiddio (brave, dare). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	dis-. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	Numbers Chapter 23, Verse 8
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Ti araswmai on mh kataratai kurioV h ti kataraswmai on mh kataratai o qeoV
Latin	405	Vulgate	Quomodo maledicam cui non maledixit Deus qua ratione detester quem Dominus non detestatur
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	What maner wise shal I curse to whom God hath not cursid? bi what resoun shal Y wary whom God warieth not?
Renaissance English	1526	Tyndale	How shall I curse whom God curseth not and how shall I defye whom the Lorde defyeth not?
Jacobean English	1611	King James	How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?
Victorian English	1833	Webster	How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?
Basic English	1964	Ogden	How may I put curses on him who is not cursed by God? how may I be angry with him with whom the Lord is not angry?
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Numbers Chapter 23, Verse 8
Bulgarian	Как да прокълна, когато Бог не проклина? Или как да хвърля презрение върху когото �"оспод не хвърля?
Cebuano	Unsaon ko pagtunglo, kadtong wala pagtungloha sa Dios? Ug unsaon ko paghagit sa kasuko, niadtong wala paghagita ni Jehova?
Chinese	神 �' 有 �'' 詛的、我焉能 �'' 詛、耶 �'� 華 �' 有 �' 罵的、我焉能 �' 罵。
Croatian	Kako mogu proklinjati koga Bog ne proklinje? Kako gromom udarati koga Jahve ne udara?
Danish	Hvor kan jeg forbande, når Gud ej forbander, nedkalde Vrede, når HERREN ej vreds!
Dutch	Wat zal ik vloeken, dien God niet vloekt; en wat zal ik schelden, waar de HEERE niet scheldt?
Finnish	Kuinka minä kiroaisin sen, jota ei Jumala kiroa, kuinka sadattelisin sitä, jota ei Herra sadattele?
French	Comment maudirais-je celui que Dieu n`a point maudit? Comment serais-je irrité quand l`Éternel n`est point irrité?
German	Wie soll ich fluchen, dem Gott nicht flucht? Wie soll ich schelten, den der HERR nicht schilt?
Haitian Creole	Men ki jan ou ta vle pou m' madichonnen moun Bondye pa madichonnen? Ki jan ou ta vle pou m' kraponnen moun Bondye pa kraponnen?
Hungarian	Mit átkozzam azt, a kit Isten nem átkoz, és mit szidalmazzam azt, a kit az Úr nem szidalmaz?
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Mungkinkah aku mengutuk, kalau Allah tidak mengutuk? Mungkinkah aku menghukum, kalau TUHAN tidak menghukum?
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Maka bagaimanakah aku mengutuki orang yang tiada dikutuki Allah? dan bagaimanakah aku menyerahkan kepada kebinasaan orang yang tiada diserahkan oleh Tuhan kepada kebinasaan?
Italian	Come imprecherò, se Dio non impreca? Come inveirò, se il Signore non inveisce?
Korean	하 나 님 이 � � 주 치 않 으 � 자 를 내 어 찌 � � 주 하 며 여 호 와 께 서 꾸 짖 지 않 으 � 자 를 내 어 찌 꾸 짖 을 꼬
Maori	Me aha e kanga ai ahau i ta te Atua i kore ai e kanga? me aha hoki e whakatara ai ahau ki ta Ihowa kihai i whakatara?
Modern Greek	� ως να καταρασθω τον οποιον ο Θεος δεν καταραται; η πως να αναθεματισω τον οποιον ο Κυριος δεν ανεθεματισε;
Norwegian	Hvorledes skal jeg forbanne den Gud ikke forbanner? Hvorledes skal jeg tale ondt over den Herren ikke taler ondt over?
Portuguese	Como amaldiçoarei a quem Deus não amaldiçoou? e como denunciarei a quem o Senhor não denunciou?
Rumanian	Cum sq blastqm eu pe cel ce nu -l blastqmq Dumnezeu? Cum sq defaim eu pe cel ce nu -l defaimq Domnul?
Spanish	"¿Cómo he de maldecir a quien Dios no maldice? ¿Y cómo he de condenar al que Jehovah no condena?
Swedish	Huru kan jag förbanna den gud ej förbannar, och tala ofärd över den som HERREN ej talar ofärd över?
Thai	ข้าพเจ้าจะแช่งผู้ที่พระเจ้าไม่ทรงแช่งไ�"้อย่างไร ข้าพเจ้าจะประ�"ามผู้ที่พระเยโฮวาห์ไม่ทรงประ�"ามไ�"้อย่างไร
Ukrainian	Що ж я буду того проклинати, що Бог не прокляв був його? І що ж буду казать зло на того, що гніву на нього не ма�" �"осподь?
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "defy": defying. (additional references)
	Words ending with "defy": redefy. (additional references)
	Words containing "defy": redefying. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Defy" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cefyn, dafey, dafi, dafiy, dafty, dafy, dayyy, Deby, debye, decy, deef, deevy, deey, Defb, defe, deff, defi, defie, defit, Defoy, Defs, defty, Defu, defys, degy, dehy, delfim, deoy, devey, devy, dexy, df, Dfe, dfen, Dfi, Diby, diefy, diffk, diffm, Diffy, doef, dofu, dref, dreff, drefn, duffy, Duvy, Edcf, edey, effy, efi, efy, hefy, Hefyn, jefy, Nefyn, refy, xef. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "d-e-f-y"
	-1 letter: dey, dye, fed, fey.
	-2 letters: de, ed, ef, ye.
	Words containing the letters "d-e-f-y"
	+1 letter: deify, edify, fayed.
	+2 letters: deafly, defray, deftly, flayed, fledgy, fleyed, flyted, frayed, medfly, redefy, yaffed.
	+3 letters: deerfly, defrays, defying, densify, fadedly, fedayee, feodary, fetidly, feudary, fidgety, fixedly, forayed, perfidy, reedify.
	+4 letters: affrayed, alderfly, cityfied, dayflies, defrayal, defrayed, defrayer, deifying, denazify, detoxify, dyestuff, edifying, fadeaway, fedayeen, federacy, fervidly, feudally, fidelity, forcedly, forebody, forelady, foreyard, forkedly, friendly, frogeyed, giftedly, hayfield, identify, recodify, remodify, typified.
	+5 letters: boyfriend, damselfly, dayflower, deacidify, decalcify, decertify, defiantly, definably, deformity, defrayals, defrayers, defraying, demystify, denitrify, devitrify, diffusely, direfully, diversify, dolefully, dyestuffs, fadeaways, fecundity, federally, feudality, feudatory, flybridge, foreyards, hayfields, heedfully, indemnify, midwifery, mystified, needfully, playfield, premodify, redefying, semideify.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

44 65 66 79

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

⁼

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

-.. . ..-. -.--.

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000100 01100101 01100110 01111001

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#68 &#101 &#102 &#121

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0044 0065 0066 0079

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Expression	Frequency per Day
defy	55
defy stain	7
defy offspring	7
defy lyrics	5
defy lyrics offspring	5
defy stain wood	4
defy gravity	3
defy i	3
defy perception	3
defy kathalina	3
defy epoxy	2
defy fly	2
defy zenith	2
defy pioneer	2
defy epoxy fortified stain wood	2
defy deny.com n	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Defy

Definitions: Defy

Defy

Verb

Abbreviations & Acronyms: Defy

DEFY

Synonyms: Defy

Synonyms within Context: Defy

Courage

Defiance

Disobedience

Record

Threat

Crosswords: Defy

Modern Usage: Defy

Screenplays

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Defy

Books

Theater & Movies

Music

Photo Album: Defy

Use in Literature: Defy

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Non-Fiction Usage: Defy

Usage Frequency: Defy

Expressions: Defy

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Defy

defy

defy stain

defy offspring

defy lyrics

defy lyrics offspring

defy stain wood

defy gravity

defy i

defy perception

defy kathalina

defy epoxy

defy fly

defy zenith

defy pioneer

defy epoxy fortified stain wood

defy deny.com n

Modern Translations: Defy

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Faeroese

Farsi

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Norwegian

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukranian

Welsh

Ancestral Language Translations: Defy