defeat

verb

/dɪˈfiːt/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they defeat	/dɪˈfiːt/ /dɪˈfiːt/
he / she / it defeats	/dɪˈfiːts/ /dɪˈfiːts/
past simple defeated	/dɪˈfiːtɪd/ /dɪˈfiːtɪd/
past participle defeated	/dɪˈfiːtɪd/ /dɪˈfiːtɪd/
-ing form defeating	/dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/ /dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/

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to win against somebody in a war, competition, sports game, etc. synonym beat
- defeat somebody/something He defeated the champion in three sets.
- to defeat a rival/an opponent
- The goal is to defeat the enemy by whatever means possible.
- a defeated army
- Garibaldi defeated the Neapolitan army.
- defeat somebody by something The government was defeated by 200 votes to 83.
- Davis defeated Morris by eight points in the semi-final.
- defeat somebody in something Our team was narrowly defeated in the final.
- It was said that he could not be defeated in battle.
Extra Examples
- He said it was impossible to defeat the terrorists militarily.
- The English were decisively defeated by the rebels in the battle that followed.
- The senator was decisively defeated by his rivals.
- She narrowly defeated the rival candidate in the leadership contest.
Topics War and conflictb2, Sports: other sportsb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by
See full entry
to stop something from being successful
- defeat something They are united in their determination to defeat global terrorism.
- The proposed bill was decisively defeated in Parliament.
- be defeated by something The motion was defeated by 19 votes.
- Writing down your password so you remember it defeats the purpose of having a password.
- Staying late at the office to discuss shorter working hours rather defeats the object of the exercise!
Topics Difficulty and failureb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by
See full entry
defeat somebody (formal) if something defeats you, you cannot understand it
- The instruction manual completely defeated me.
- Question 6 defeated us.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by
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’.

defeat

noun

/dɪˈfiːt/

Idioms

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[uncountable, countable] failure to win or to be successful
- The party faces defeat in the election.
- They suffered a narrow defeat in the final.
- a heavy/humiliating/crushing defeat
- The world champion has only had two defeats in 20 fights.
- They finally had to admit defeat (= stop trying to be successful).
- to concede/accept defeat
- defeat by somebody their defeat by the Brazilians
- defeat against somebody last week's defeat against Manchester United
- a punishing defeat at the hands of Iceland in the World Cup
- in defeat He was gracious in defeat, acknowledging his opponent's greater skill.
- a series of small victories and defeats
Extra Examples
- A skilful politician can always reverse any defeats.
- The prime minister conceded defeat and resigned.
- The battle ended in a humiliating defeat.
- The team suffered defeat at the hands of their oldest rivals.
- Their party suffered a heavy defeat in the election.
- The team went down to their fifth consecutive defeat.
- They lost 4–3 in their second narrow defeat of the week.
- They turned a military defeat into a media victory.
- We just need to avoid defeat in our last two games.
Topics Difficulty and failureb2, War and conflictb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- complete
- comprehensive
- decisive
- …
verb + defeat
- accept
- admit
- concede
- …
preposition
- defeat against
- defeat by
phrases
- defeat at the hands of somebody
- turn defeat into a victory
See full entry
[countable, usually singular] the act of winning a victory over somebody/something
- The army inflicted a heavy defeat on rebel forces.
- the defeat of fascism
Extra Examples
- They played a key role in Wellington's defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
- He almost pulled off a shock defeat of the reigning champion.
Topics Sports: other sportsb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- complete
- comprehensive
- decisive
- …
verb + defeat
- accept
- admit
- concede
- …
preposition
- defeat against
- defeat by
phrases
- defeat at the hands of somebody
- turn defeat into a victory
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’.

Idioms

snatch victory from the jaws of defeat

to win something even though it seemed up until the last moment that you would lose The idiom is often reversed for humorous effect to show that a person or team were expected to win, but then lost at the last moment, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.